Illinois public school teachers do not get Social Security from their teaching jobs. Their teaching salaries are not taxed for Social Security, and the years they spend in the classroom do not build Social Security credits. Instead, they earn a pension through the Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS), or through the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund (CTPF) if they work in Chicago. Teachers who also worked in Social Security-covered jobs — before teaching, during summers, or after retiring from the classroom — can collect those federal benefits, and as of 2025 those payments are no longer reduced because of the teaching pension.
Why Teaching Pay Doesn’t Build Social Security
Federal law lets state and local governments keep their employees out of Social Security when those employees are already covered by a qualifying public pension. Illinois took that option for its educators. Teachers employed by public school districts outside Chicago participate in TRS; Chicago public school teachers participate in CTPF.1Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund. Pension Fundamentals In both cases, the 6.2% Social Security payroll tax is not withheld from teaching wages, and no Social Security credits are earned on that income.
What is withheld is a pension contribution. TRS members pay 9% of their gross creditable earnings each year: 7.5% toward the retirement annuity, 0.5% toward annual cost-of-living increases, and 1% toward survivor benefits.2Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois. Chapter 4: Contributions That contribution funds a defined-benefit pension. It does not count toward anything at the Social Security Administration.
Earning Social Security From Other Work
Teaching is often not a person’s only job. Pre-teaching careers, part-time work, summer jobs, and post-retirement employment in the private sector are generally covered by Social Security and taxed at the usual 6.2% rate. Those wages do build credits.
You need 40 credits — roughly 10 years of covered work — to qualify for Social Security retirement benefits. In 2026, one credit is earned for every $1,890 in covered wages, up to four credits per year. Earning at least $7,560 in covered wages during 2026 gives you the full four.3Social Security Administration. Social Security Credits and Benefit Eligibility
Your eventual monthly check is based on your highest 35 years of covered earnings. A teacher who worked 10 or 15 years in covered employment will see a smaller benefit than someone whose entire career was in Social Security-covered work, because the missing years count as zeros in the 35-year average.
The 2025 Repeal of WEP and GPO
For decades, two federal rules clipped Social Security payments to people who also drew a pension from non-covered work like Illinois teaching. The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) lowered the formula used to calculate a teacher’s own Social Security retirement benefit. The Government Pension Offset (GPO) reduced any spousal or survivor benefit by two-thirds of the monthly non-covered pension, often wiping it out entirely.4Social Security Administration. Program Explainer: Windfall Elimination Provision5Social Security Administration. Program Explainer: Government Pension Offset
The Social Security Fairness Act, signed into law on January 5, 2025, repealed both provisions retroactive to January 2024.6Social Security Administration. Social Security Fairness Act: Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) Illinois teachers who qualify for Social Security from other employment now receive the full, unreduced benefit. The same is true for spousal and survivor benefits.
Because the change reaches back to January 2024, the Social Security Administration recalculated payments for everyone affected. As of mid-2025, SSA had issued more than 3.1 million payments totaling $17 billion in retroactive adjustments, delivered as a one-time lump sum covering the increase from January 2024 forward, plus a higher ongoing monthly check.6Social Security Administration. Social Security Fairness Act: Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) A retired Illinois teacher whose Social Security was previously reduced by WEP or GPO should already see the higher amount. A teacher still working will claim the full benefit when the time comes, with no offset for the TRS or CTPF pension.
Medicare Still Applies to Teaching Pay
Social Security and Medicare are separate programs, and the exclusion for Illinois teachers covers only Social Security. Federal law requires all state and local government employees hired after March 31, 1986, to pay the 1.45% Medicare Hospital Insurance tax, with a matching 1.45% from the school district.7eCFR. 42 CFR 406.15 – Special Provisions Applicable to Medicare Qualified Government Employment Those taxes earn quarters of coverage toward premium-free Medicare Part A at age 65. A teacher can have zero Social Security retirement benefits and still have full Medicare coverage.
Teachers hired before April 1, 1986, who never paid Medicare taxes through any job may not automatically qualify for premium-free Part A. They can buy in. In 2026, the Part A premium is either $311 or $565 per month, depending on how many Medicare-taxed quarters they or a spouse accumulated.8Medicare. Costs
Disability and Survivor Protection Come From TRS, Not Social Security
Because teaching wages do not earn Social Security credits, time in an Illinois classroom cannot by itself qualify a teacher for Social Security Disability Insurance. TRS runs its own disability program. A member who becomes unable to teach because of a non-work-related condition receives a temporary disability benefit equal to 40% of the contract salary rate, subject to service requirements.9Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois. Chapter 14: Disability Benefits
Survivor protection works the same way. TRS pays death and survivor benefits in place of what Social Security would otherwise provide. A dependent spouse, minor child, or dependent parent can elect a monthly survivor benefit or a lump sum; a non-dependent beneficiary receives a lump sum only.10Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois. Chapter 15: Death Benefits If a teacher also qualifies for Social Security survivor benefits through a spouse’s covered work, those are now payable in full under the 2025 repeal.