What AIME Is and Why It Matters for Your Benefit Amount

AIME stands for Average Indexed Monthly Earnings. It is the number Social Security uses to calculate how much money you receive each month in SSDI benefits. The higher your AIME, the higher your monthly payment. Social Security does not calculate this for you on a form you fill out — instead, they pull your earnings history from the tax records you have already submitted, adjust those earnings for inflation, and average them over a specific time period.

Your AIME is not the same as your average monthly income. It is based only on your covered earnings — money you earned while paying Social Security taxes. Self-employment income, cash payments, and work done without a Social Security number do not count. Social Security has a record of your earnings going back decades, and they use that record to build your AIME automatically when you file for SSDI.

Understanding how AIME works helps you spot errors in Social Security's records before they reduce your benefit. It also explains why your SSDI payment might be lower than you expected, and what you can do about it.

Key Takeaways

  • AIME is calculated from your highest 35 years of covered earnings, adjusted for inflation, then divided by 420 months.
  • Social Security automatically indexes your earnings to national wage levels from the year you turn 60, so older earnings are not penalized for inflation.
  • You can request a detailed earnings record from Social Security to verify the income they have on file before your SSDI benefit is calculated.
  • Gaps in your work history lower your AIME because zero-earning years count as part of the 35-year average.
  • If Social Security's earnings record is wrong, you can file a correction request, but you must act within a specific timeframe.

The Five Steps Social Security Uses to Calculate AIME

Social Security follows the same process for every SSDI applicant. The steps are mechanical — no judgment involved — but understanding them helps you verify the result.

Step 1: Gather your highest 35 years of covered earnings. Social Security looks back through your entire work history and selects the 35 years in which you earned the most money under Social Security. If you have worked fewer than 35 years, the missing years count as zero. This is why a 10-year work history produces a lower AIME than a 35-year one, even if the annual earnings were identical.

Step 2: Index your earnings to national wage levels. Earnings from 1990 are not the same as earnings from 2020 in terms of purchasing power. Social Security adjusts (indexes) your older earnings upward to account for wage growth in the economy. The indexing year is the year you turn 60. If you became disabled before age 60, Social Security uses the year you became disabled instead. This means your 1990 earnings are multiplied by a factor that reflects how much wages have grown since then.

Step 3: explore the bend points. This step happens later in the benefit calculation, not in the AIME itself, but it is worth knowing: Social Security does not use your AIME directly as your benefit. Instead, they explore bend points — thresholds that replace a higher percentage of lower earnings than higher earnings. This is why two people with different AIMEs do not receive benefits that are exactly proportional to their earnings difference.

Step 4: Divide by 420 months. After indexing, Social Security adds up your 35 highest years of earnings and divides the total by 420 (which is 35 years × 12 months). This produces your AIME — your average indexed monthly earnings.

Step 5: Round down to the nearest dollar. Social Security rounds your AIME down, not to the nearest dollar, but down only. A AIME of $2,847.61 becomes $2,847.

How Indexing Works and Why It Matters

Indexing is the step that confuses most people, but it is actually fair: it prevents the system from penalizing you for earning money in years when wages were lower across the economy.

Social Security publishes a National Average Wage Index every year. In 2023, the index was $60,576.07. In 1990, it was $21,027.98. If you earned $20,000 in 1990 and became disabled in 2024, Social Security does not count that $20,000 as $20,000. Instead, they multiply it by a factor: the 2023 national average wage divided by the 1990 national average wage. That factor is roughly 2.88. Your $20,000 becomes $57,600 for purposes of calculating your AIME.

The indexing year is fixed: it is the year you turn 60, or the year you became disabled if that was before 60. This means if you are disabled at 35, your earnings are indexed to the wage levels of your disability year, not to current wage levels. If you are disabled at 58, your earnings are indexed to age 60 wage levels, which is two years in the future — Social Security uses a projection for that.

Earnings in the year you turn 60 (or become disabled) are not indexed at all — they are counted as-is. This is called the indexing year, and it serves as the anchor point for the entire calculation.

Why Gaps in Your Work History Lower Your AIME

If you have not worked 35 years, the missing years count as zero earnings. This is the single biggest factor that lowers AIME for people who took time out of the workforce.

Example: You worked 30 years and earned an average of $50,000 per year (indexed). That is $1.5 million total. Social Security adds five zero years to reach 35 years. Your total is still $1.5 million, but now it is divided by 420 months instead of 360 months (30 years × 12). Your AIME drops from $4,167 to $3,571 — a 14% reduction — straightforward because of the five missing years.

This is why people who took years off for caregiving, education, or unemployment see lower SSDI benefits than their working years alone would suggest. There is no way to remove the zero years from the calculation. However, Social Security does allow you to exclude up to five years of lowest earnings (which may include zero years) if you have enough years of coverage. This is called the dropout year provision, but it applies only if you have at least 35 years of coverage to begin with.

How to Request Your Earnings Record and Check for Errors

Before Social Security calculates your AIME, you can request a copy of your earnings record to verify the income they have on file. This is one of the most important steps you can take, because errors in the record directly reduce your benefit.

You can request your earnings record online at ssa.gov/myaccount if you create a my Social Security account. You will see a year-by-year breakdown of the wages Social Security has recorded under your Social Security number. The record shows what was reported to Social Security by your employers, not what you remember earning.

If you do not have an online account, you can request Form SSA-7050-F (Statement of Earnings) by calling Social Security at 1-800-772-1213 or visiting a local Social Security office. The form arrives by mail in about two weeks.

Once you have the record, compare it to your own tax returns and W-2 forms for the past several years. If you spot a discrepancy — a year where Social Security shows lower earnings than your W-2 — you can file a correction. You must do this within three years, three months, and 15 days of the year in which the earnings were reported. For 2023 earnings, the important date is April 15, 2027. After that window closes, Social Security will not correct the record without evidence of fraud by your employer.

What to Do If Your Earnings Record Has Errors

If you find an error, contact Social Security when ready. Do not wait until you file for SSDI. The correction process is faster before you are in the SSDI system.

Bring or mail the following to your local Social Security office: your Social Security card, a photo ID, and a copy of the W-2 or tax return that shows the correct earnings. If you are self-employed, bring a copy of your tax return and Schedule C. Social Security will contact your employer to verify the earnings if needed.

If your employer no longer exists or cannot be reached, Social Security may ask you to sign a statement under penalty of perjury describing the work you did and the pay you received. This is called a Statement in Support of Earnings. It is not as strong as employer verification, but it is better than leaving the record wrong.

Once you file a correction, Social Security sends you a letter confirming the change or explaining why they cannot make it. Keep this letter. If you later file for SSDI and your benefit is calculated using the old (wrong) earnings record, you can use the letter to request a recalculation.

How AIME Connects to Your Monthly SSDI Payment

Your AIME is not your monthly benefit amount. It is the starting point. Social Security uses your AIME to calculate your Primary Insurance Amount (PIA), which is your actual monthly payment.

The formula uses bend points — dollar thresholds that change every year. In 2024, the bend points are $1,174 and $7,078. Here is how it works: Social Security takes 90% of the first $1,174 of your AIME, then 32% of the amount between $1,174 and $7,078, then 15% of anything above $7,078. The three percentages are added together to get your PIA.

This means lower earners get a higher percentage of their AIME as a benefit, while higher earners get a lower percentage. A person with a AIME of $2,000 receives a larger percentage of their AIME as a benefit than a person with a AIME of $5,000. This is by design — the system replaces a larger share of income for people who earned less.

Your PIA is your monthly SSDI benefit before any reductions. If you file before your full retirement age, your benefit is reduced. If you have other income, your benefit may be further reduced under the Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) rule. But the PIA — calculated from your AIME — is the foundation of the entire payment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I increase my AIME by working more years before I file for SSDI?

Yes, if you have fewer than 35 years of covered earnings. Each additional year of work replaces a zero year in the calculation, which raises your AIME. However, if you already have 35 years of earnings, additional work only helps if the new year's earnings are higher than one of your current 35 years — in that case, the higher year replaces the lowest year in the calculation.

What if I worked in another country? Does that count toward my AIME?

Only if you paid Social Security taxes on that income. Work in most other countries does not count because those countries have their own social security systems. However, some countries have totalization agreements with the United States that allow earnings to be combined. Contact Social Security to ask whether your country of work has an agreement.

Does my AIME change after I start receiving SSDI?

No. Your AIME is locked in when your benefit is calculated. However, if you return to work and earn substantial income, your benefit may be reduced under the SGA rule. Once you reach full retirement age, the SGA rule no longer applies, and your benefit increases to account for the years you did not receive payments.

How do I know if Social Security indexed my earnings correctly?

You cannot easily verify the indexing calculation yourself because it requires the National Average Wage Index for each year of your earnings history. However, you can request a detailed benefit calculation from Social Security by calling 1-800-772-1213 and asking for a "detailed earnings and benefit estimate." They will show you the indexed amount for each year.

What happens to my AIME if I have years with very low earnings?

Low-earning years are included in your AIME calculation just like any other year. If you have 35 or more years of coverage, Social Security allows you to drop up to five of your lowest-earning years (including zero years) from the calculation. This is automatic — you do not have to request it. Social Security applies the dropout year rule to give you the highest possible AIME.