PBGC Updates 2027 Maximum Monthly Guarantee Tables, Premiums

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation announced its updated maximum monthly guarantee tables and premium rates for 2027.

The guarantee tables outline the highest pension benefits the PBGC can pay for single-employer plans it administers as trustee, specifying the maximum amounts the agency can guarantee by age, with limits determined by a federal formula tied to the Social Security index. This formula results in lower amounts for younger ages—because younger people are expected to receive more monthly pension checks over their lifetime—and higher amounts for older retirees.

According to the PBGC’s announcement, the guarantee limits for single-employer plans that terminate in 2027 will be 4.16% higher than the limits that applied for 2026. The guarantee limits for multiemployer plans are not indexed and have not changed.

For 2027, the maximum guaranteed benefit for a 65-year-old retiree receiving a straight-life annuity is $8,113.64 per month, while a joint-and-50% survivor annuity for the same age caps at $7,302.28. Those figures will increase from $7,789.77 and $7,010.79, respectively, in 2026. The guaranteed amounts rise with age, topping out at $24,665.47 for age 75 under the straight-life annuity option, up from $23,680.90 in 2026.

As the PBGC noted in its statement, most retirees in PBGC-trusteed plans receive benefits that are less than these limits. 

Earlier last week, the PBGC updated its 2027 premiums—the insurance payments that corporate pension funds must make to the federal guarantor—which will rise in 2027.

The PBGC insures private-sector defined benefit plans covered under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Under PBGC regulations, those plans must file annual information to the PBGC and pay the insurance premium to the agency.

The flat rate premium per participant in a single-employer plan will rise by 4.5% to $116 per participant in 2027, from $111 in 2026. The rate for unvested benefits was fixed by Congress under Section 349 of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2022 and will therefore remain unchanged at $52 per $1,000.

Several sources say that while the rising costs of administering pension plans continue to drive plan sponsors to conduct pension risk transfers, the PBGC’s increase in premiums is unlikely to have a major impact on plan sponsors’ decisions to do so.

For variable-rate premiums, the cap will rise by 4.3%, reaching $783 per participant. For multiemployer plans that only deal with per-participant fees, the flat rate premium will increase to $42 from $40.