Social Security

Social Security

• In 2009, 157.6 million workers had earnings taxable under the Social Security program. About 140.7 million had only wages, 10.0 million had only self-employment income, and 6.9 million had both.
• Social Security taxable earnings totaled $5.268 trillion, which includes earnings up to the taxable maximum of $106,800.
• Social Security taxes totaled about $653 billion.

Medicare

• In 2009, 161.4 million workers had earnings taxable under the Medicare program. About 143.8 million had only wages, 9.9 million had only self-employment income, and 7.7 million had both.
• Medicare taxable earnings totaled $6.407 trillion.
• Medicare taxes totaled about $186 billion.

This report presents 2009 earnings and employment data by state and county for persons covered under the Social Security and Medicare programs.

The data show, by sex and age, the number of wage and salary workers and self-employed persons, the amount of their taxable earnings, and the amount they paid in Social Security and Medicare contributions. The information in this publication is a rich data source for researchers and policymakers who are interested in studying the primary revenue source for the Social Security (Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance) and the Medicare Part A (Hospital Insurance) programs. When coupled with the Social Security Administration publication OASDI Beneficiaries by State and County, these data are valuable for studying the impact of the Social Security program and are used for this purpose in academia, private industry, and state governments.

Staff of the Earnings and Employment Statistics Team in the Division of Earnings Statistics and Analysis designed, compiled, programmed, validated, and reviewed the data for this publication. Thom Mattson and Dana Sheild in the Office of Systems wrote the computer programs to produce the source data from the Social Security Administration's programmatic data files. Staff of the Division of Information Resources edited the report and prepared the print and web versions for publication.

Manuel de la Puente
Associate Commissioner for Research, Evaluation, and Statistics
April 2012