What is the Social Security Statement and how do I check my earnings record?
Last updated Jul 19, 2026
Reviewed by Jason Burns, Editorial Steward
Published by Senior Direct Answers · Licensed under Citation License 1.0
The Social Security Statement is SSA's personalized record showing your year-by-year earnings history and estimates of the retirement, disability, and survivor benefits you and your family could receive. As of 2026 you can view or download it anytime by creating a my Social Security account at ssa.gov/myaccount; SSA mails paper Statements mainly to workers age 60 and older who are not receiving benefits and have no online account. Your benefit estimates update as each new year of earnings is posted, so review the Statement annually.
What the government has said, on the record
“The statements we will begin to mail in October--the largest customized mailing ever undertaken by the federal government--will be our newly-designed Social Security Statement which, like its PEBES predecessor, provides estimates of Social Security retirement, disability, and survivors benefits that workers and their families could be eligible to receive now and in the future. ... The information in the Statement provides workers with an easy way to determine whether their earnings (or self-employment income) are accurately posted on their Social Security record”
— Kenneth S. Apfel, Commissioner of Social Security (1997-2001), House Committee on Ways and Means, Subcommittee on Social Security, hearing subject "Information Technology Enhancements", 1999-07-29 (source)
Editor's note: historical context - quote describes the first annual mass mailing of Statements in October 1999; today most people access the Statement online via my Social Security rather than by mail
Who said this
Kenneth S. Apfel — Commissioner of Social Security (1997-2001) (current).
Also asked as
- What is the Social Security Statement and how do I check my earnings record — plain answer
- Definition of the Social Security Statement and how do I check my earnings record.
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Last verified: 2026-07-18