Calculator · Retirement

Social Security claiming calculator

Enter your monthly benefit at full retirement age, your full retirement age and an age to count to. The Social Security claiming calculator applies the early reduction and delayed credits for each age from 62 to 70 and finds where waiting catches up.

Your numbers

Hypothetical. The statement in your my Social Security account shows your own figure.
A planning age, not a forecast.

Monthly at 62

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Monthly at full age

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Monthly at 70

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Break-even, 62 vs 70

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Break-even, 62 vs full age

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The working

    How the reduction and the credits work

    The Social Security Administration sets your benefit at full retirement age, the primary insurance amount, then adjusts it for each month you claim before or after that age. Early claiming costs five-ninths of 1% for each of the first 36 months and five-twelfths of 1% for every month past that. Waiting beyond full retirement age earns two-thirds of 1% a month, 8% a year, with no credits after 70. With a $2,000 benefit at 67, a claim at 62 is 60 months early: 20% off for the first 36 months, 10% for the other 24, leaving $1,400. At 70 the credits add 24%, for $2,480.

    The break-even age

    Claim early and the checks start sooner. Wait and each check is bigger. The break-even age is where the bigger checks have made up for the ones you skipped, and on the example figures the 62 against 70 comparison crosses a little past 80. Live beyond it and waiting paid more in total. That makes the choice a question about health, family history, other income and, for a married couple, the survivor benefit, which is based on the deceased spouse's check and so rewards the higher earner for waiting. Claiming at 62, 67 or 70 works the comparison in full, and spousal and survivor benefits covers couples.

    What the table leaves out

    Cost-of-living adjustments are ignored, so every figure is in today's dollars. Because an adjustment raises every claiming age by the same percentage, the break-even ages hold in real terms. Taxes, the earnings test, Medicare premiums and spousal benefits are also outside the sum. Get your actual primary insurance amount from your my Social Security statement at ssa.gov. How your benefit is calculated explains where it comes from, and full retirement age gives the age that matches your birth year.

    Questions about this calculator

    Can I claim at 62 and switch to a bigger benefit later?

    Not on your own record, apart from narrow exceptions. The Social Security Administration lets you withdraw an application within 12 months of first claiming if you repay everything received, and after full retirement age you can ask to suspend benefits and earn delayed credits until 70. Otherwise the reduction for claiming early stays with the benefit for life.

    Does waiting past 70 increase my benefit?

    No. Delayed retirement credits stop accruing at 70, so the monthly amount at that age is the most your own record pays. Waiting any longer to apply only gives up checks, and a late application can pay back only a limited number of past months. File in the month you turn 70 if you have chosen to wait.

    Is my benefit at 62 exactly 70% of the full amount?

    Only when full retirement age is 67. With a full retirement age of 66 and some months, claiming at 62 is fewer months early, so the cut is smaller. Pick your full retirement age in the inputs and every row recomputes the reduction month by month from the Social Security Administration's formula.

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