OBJECTIVE: Evaluate earnings associated with early, late, or any stages of ARM, a progressive vision-compromising condition, compared to a general elderly cohort. METHODS: Earnings of an ARM population ?65 years and a general cohort ?65 years were retrospectively evaluated to estimate potential earnings differences. ARM prevalence data were obtained from prospective landmark studies in the US, Australia, and The Netherlands. Prevalence data and census data, were used to estimate the number of ARM patients in these countries. Beaver Dam (BD) study income data were used to calculate the median income for each stage of ARM. US Social Security (SS) median income data for the general cohort population ?65 was calculated using identical BD income categories. BD income was adjusted for inflation and regional differences. By multiplying the estimated number of patients per given country within each specified earnings category of ARM by respective median incomes, annual societal earnings were calculated. Likewise, multiplying the number of elderly without ARM by the SS median annual income produced an income estimate of persons without ARM. RESULTS: Estimated BD incomes for persons with ARM ?65 years were $27,000, $21,000 and $27,000 for the early, late, and any groups, respectively. The income for the general population ?65 was estimated at $31,000. The early ARM group has higher earnings related to the higher prevalence of this cohort, and possibly higher per capita income in what is likely to be a younger sub-population. Total estimated earnings for the any ARM group were $240 billion. By comparison, the total income for “no” ARM was $803 billion. ARM patients are 26% of the ?65 years population but earn only 23% of this group’s income. This pattern was repeated across five studies. CONCLUSION: The wage impact associated with ARM appears large and represents a significant indirect societal cost of AMD.