Will I Get Social Security?
This trips people up because it genuinely works differently state to state — and Michigan isn't the state most of the scary stories online are actually about.
💬 GLP Retirement MinuteYes — for most MPSERS members.
Michigan public school employment is generally covered by Social Security, meaning Social Security taxes come out of your paycheck alongside your MPSERS contributions, and you build real Social Security credits from your teaching career — just like most private-sector workers.
In several other states — Alaska, Colorado, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, and Ohio, most notably — most public school employees are not covered by Social Security at all through their teaching job. That's where most of what you may have read online comes from. Michigan isn't one of those states.
The old Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) reduced Social Security benefits for people receiving a pension from non-covered work. Since most MPSERS members' teaching jobs already are Social Security-covered, WEP/GPO typically didn't apply to their MPSERS pension in the first place. It mattered more for mixed-career situations — time worked in a non-covered state's teaching job, or a spouse with a non-covered pension. Either way, the Social Security Fairness Act (signed January 5, 2025) repealed both provisions for benefits payable after December 2023, so this is even less of a concern now than before.
Create or check your account at ssa.gov to see your actual Social Security earnings record and estimated benefit — this reflects your specific work history, not a generic Michigan answer.
Most Michigan educators retire with both an MPSERS pension and a Social Security benefit — genuinely two income streams, not one replacing the other. How those two combine to shape your total retirement income is exactly what the next step is about.