Do pensions affect Social Security? Do veterans benefits affect Social Security? Do unemployment benefits affect Social Security? Does Supplemental Security Income affect Social Security? Do other benefits count toward the Social Security earnings test?

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Do Pensions and Other Benefits Affect Social Security?

Historically, some types of pensions and government payments have reduced retirement benefits — here’s how it works now

5-minute read

Part of Series: Retirement Benefits

Tamara E. Holmes,

AARP

Expert reviewed by

Tom Margenau

Published October 12, 2026

Tamara E. Holmes has written about money and careers for publications including USA Today, Working Mother and Essence.

Tom Margenau writes the "Social Security Simplified" column for AARP Bulletin and the nationally syndicated column "Social Security and You." He is a former public information director at the Social Security Administration and a 32-year veteran of the agency.

Key takeaways

Government pensions once reduced Social Security retirement benefits for some recipients, but Congress repealed those rules in 2024.
Veterans can receive military pensions or VA disability benefits without it affecting their Social Security payments.
Only income from work counts toward the Social Security earnings test — not pensions, SSI or other nonwork income.

As we explore in our article on Social Security’s earnings test, income from work can have a major impact on your monthly retirement benefit, depending on how much you make and when you claim Social Security. But many beneficiaries derive income from sources other than work, such as a pension or veterans benefits. Here’s what to know about collecting Social Security and these other payments.

Do pensions affect Social Security?
Do veterans benefits affect Social Security?
Do unemployment benefits affect Social Security?
Does Supplemental Security Income affect Social Security?
Do other benefits count toward the Social Security earnings test?

Do pensions affect Social Security?

Pensions aren’t as prevalent as they used to be, but they’re still fairly common among former government workers and retirees who began private-sector careers before 401(k) plans largely supplanted pension plans. In 2024, 1 in 3 adults 65 and older received income from a pension, according to the nonprofit Pension Rights Center.

Private-sector pensions have never affected Social Security, but until recently, millions of beneficiaries who had worked in federal, state or local government saw their Social Security payments reduced or eliminated because of their pensions. That changed in 2025, after Congress repealed Social Security rules called the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO).

Under the WEP, enacted in 1983, if you received both Social Security retirement benefits and a “non-covered” pension (from a job in which you did not pay Social Security taxes), your Social Security payment could be reduced by up to one-half of the pension amount. The GPO, enacted in 1977, affected people who collected Social Security spousal or survivor benefits — if they also received a non-covered pension, their benefits could be reduced by up to two-thirds of the pension amount.

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The Social Security Fairness Act, passed by Congress in December 2024, eliminated both rules, which at the time affected nearly 3 million beneficiaries. Their monthly benefit reductions stopped in January 2025, and they were reimbursed for benefits withheld in 2024.

Do veterans benefits affect Social Security?

You can receive military retirement pay or Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) disability benefits without any change in your Social Security payments. This was the case even when the WEP and GPO were in effect; since 1957, military salaries have been subject to Social Security taxes, so neither provision applied to veterans’ pensions.

In some circumstances, past military service could even boost your Social Security payment. From 1940 to 2001, the Social Security Administration (SSA) supplemented service members' pay records with special earnings credits. These credits increase the earnings base on which Social Security benefits are calculated, potentially raising affected veterans’ Social Security payments. Congress discontinued the credits in 2001, and they are not applied to any period of service since then.

Do unemployment benefits affect Social Security?

Not anymore. In the past, many states deducted money from unemployment benefits if a recipient also received Social Security. In the early 2000s, 20 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands had such legislation on the books, according to the National Employment Law Project (NELP).

States began repealing these so-called “Social Security offset” laws in 2003, with support from NELP, AARP and other advocates for older workers. The last such law, Minnesota’s, ended in July 2022.

Does Supplemental Security Income affect Social Security?

As of August 2026, about 2.5 million people, more than 1.4 million of them age 65-plus, were receiving both a Social Security payment and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), an SSA-administered safety-net benefit for older adults and people with disabilities who have very limited financial resources. Receiving SSI does not affect your Social Security retirement benefit.

However, receiving a retirement benefit could affect your SSI. That’s because, unlike Social Security benefits, your SSI payment can be reduced if you receive other income.

To qualify for SSI, you must be at least 65 years old, blind or have a disability and meet strict income and asset limits. In 2026, the maximum federal SSI benefit is $994 per month for an individual and $1,491 per month for a married couple in which both spouses qualify for the program. Social Security subtracts what it considers “countable income” from that payment, and retirement benefits count.

Say you are receiving SSI and your only other income is a $600 monthly retirement benefit. The SSA exempts your first $20 in income a month from the calculation, so your SSI payment would be reduced by $580 — you’d get $600 a month from Social Security and $414 from SSI. If your countable income, including Social Security benefits, exceeds $994 per month, you can’t receive SSI.

Do other benefits count toward the Social Security earnings test?

The earnings test applies to people who claim retirement benefits before full retirement age (67 for anyone born in 1960 or later) and earn money from a job or self-employment. In this situation, the SSA can temporarily withhold a portion of your monthly benefit if your work income exceeds a certain threshold, which is adjusted annually to reflect national wage trends.

Only work income counts toward the earnings cap. Your Social Security retirement benefit cannot be reduced based on pensions, government payments or money from other nonwork sources, such as annuities, savings account withdrawals, investment returns, interest or dividends.

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