CPP and CPP2 Limits 2026: The $74,600 Ceiling, the $85,000 Second Ceiling, and Your Paycheque

Two different CPP numbers get mixed up. One is what you pay in while you work. The other is when you start the pension. This article is the first one: the 2026 earnings ceilings. The start-date math (0.6% a month early, 0.7% a month late) is in our CPP at 60, 65, or 70 post.

For 2026, CRA's Year's Maximum Pensionable Earnings (YMPE) is $74,600. The second ceiling, the Year's Additional Maximum Pensionable Earnings (YAMPE), is $85,000. An employee who earns at least $85,000 pays $4,230.45 of base CPP plus $416 of CPP2. Nothing above $85,000 is pensionable. Run a salary through the salary calculator to see the deduction on your province's pay.

The two ceilings, in one table

Figures are from CRA's CPP contribution rates, maximums and exemptions and the 2026 maximum benefit amounts. The basic exemption has been $3,500 for years. Only earnings above it count.

Check the base maximum yourself: ($74,600 − $3,500) × 5.95% = $71,100 × 5.95% = $4,230.45. CPP2 is the next slice only: ($85,000 − $74,600) × 4% = $416. Combined employee maximum: $4,646.45. Combined self-employed maximum: $9,292.90.

What that looks like at common salaries

Employee share only. The employer remits a matching amount. Anyone over $85,000 pays the same CPP as someone at exactly $85,000.

$50,000 is ($50,000 − $3,500) × 5.95%. $80,000 of CPP2 is ($80,000 − $74,600) × 4%. These are annual totals. A single paycheque is a slice of them, and the $3,500 exemption is spread across the year's pay periods, so one stub will not equal "5.95% of gross."

Why October's paycheque looks different

CPP does not come off every cheque all year once you are over the ceiling. It stops when year-to-date pensionable earnings pass $74,600, then a smaller CPP2 amount runs until you pass $85,000. On a level salary, paid twice a month or every two weeks, the hand-off lands in these neighbourhoods:

A $100,000 salary is the October case. Year-to-date pay crosses $74,600 during September, so October's cheques are mostly the 4% CPP2 deduction, not the 5.95% one. November finishes the $416. December has no CPP at all. The annual total is still $4,646.45 - it was front-loaded.

EI is a different ceiling and it falls off even sooner. Outside Quebec, EI is 1.63% up to $68,900 of insurable earnings, a maximum of $1,123.07. On that same $100,000 salary, EI is gone by about September. A fatter autumn paycheque is usually both programs hitting their caps, not a raise. The Ontario take-home breakdown shows how CPP, EI, and tax sit together at $50k, $75k, $100k, and $150k.

Self-employed: you pay both shares

There is no employer to match you. On net self-employment income of $85,000 or more you owe $8,460.90 of base CPP plus $832 of CPP2, $9,292.90 in total. That is paid with your tax return, not off a paycheque, which is why the bill feels sudden.

CRA lets you deduct the employer-equivalent portion. The employee-equivalent portion is a credit or a deduction depending on whether it is base CPP, the enhancement inside the 5.95%, or CPP2. The self-employment calculator prices the cash cost. The line numbers on the T1 belong with your return or a preparer.

Quebec workers pay into the QPP, not these CPP ceilings. The 2026 QPP employee maximum on the first ceiling is $4,479.30. Our salary calculator still labels Quebec results as an estimate: it does not yet apply QPP, QPIP, or the federal abatement.

What the contribution buys - and what it doesn't

These dollars are how the retirement pension is built. The maximum new CPP retirement pension at age 65 in 2026 is $1,507.65 a month, for someone who contributed at the ceiling for decades. Most people receive less. Paying CPP2 in 2026 adds to the enhanced benefit going forward. It does not, by itself, put you at that maximum next year.

Hitting the ceiling also does not decide your start age. You can take CPP any month from 60 to 70. Starting at 60 cuts the pension 36% (0.6% × 60 months). Waiting until 70 raises it 42% (0.7% × 60 months). If you are under 70 and already collecting while you work, you and your employer keep contributing, and those contributions add a Post-Retirement Benefit on top. That choice is covered in the timing article and the CPP and OAS calculator.

CRA resets YMPE and YAMPE each January from wage growth. The 2027 ceilings are not these numbers. Use the 2026 table until the payroll page for 2027 is published.

Rates and maximums here are from the CRA payroll pages and ESDC's 2026 pension figures, checked October 2026. This is not tax or payroll advice.