Social Security Claiming Age Calculator

When you claim Social Security is one of the few retirement decisions that's mostly permanent. Claim early and your check is smaller for life. Wait until 70 and it's larger for life. The right choice depends mostly on how long you expect to live and what other income you have.

How claiming age changes your benefit

Your benefit is based on your primary insurance amount (PIA), the monthly amount you'd get at your full retirement age (FRA). For anyone born in 1960 or later, FRA is 67. Claiming earlier permanently reduces the benefit. Claiming later, up to age 70, permanently increases it.

Source: Social Security Administration reduction and delayed retirement credit rules. The benefit is reduced 5/9 of 1% per month for the first 36 months before FRA and 5/12 of 1% per month beyond that. Delayed retirement credits add 2/3 of 1% per month (8% per year) after FRA, up to age 70.

A worked example: the break-even age

Take someone born in 1962 with a $2,000 PIA. Claiming at 62 pays $1,400 a month and claiming at 70 pays $2,480. The early claimer collects for eight more years, but the later claimer's larger checks eventually catch up. The break-even age between 62 and 70 is about 80.4. Live past it, and waiting paid more in total. The break-even between 62 and 67 is about 78.7, and between 67 and 70 about 82.5.

Planning to age 85, the lifetime totals are about $386,400 (claim at 62), $432,000 (67) and $446,400 (70), before cost-of-living adjustments.

Reasons to claim early or late

• Waiting tends to favor: people in good health with family longevity, the higher earner in a married couple (whose benefit can become the survivor benefit), and people with other savings to bridge the gap. A larger inflation-adjusted check is also valuable protection against running out of money late in life.
• Claiming earlier can make sense for: people with serious health concerns or shorter life expectancy, those who need the income and have no other resources, and some lower-earning spouses in specific situations.

What this calculator doesn't include

• Cost-of-living adjustments: benefits rise with inflation each year, but that affects every claiming age similarly, so results are in today's dollars.
• Spousal and survivor benefits, which can change the best strategy for married couples.
• The earnings test: if you claim before FRA and keep working, benefits may be temporarily withheld above an earnings limit.
• Taxes on benefits and the time value of money.

For a personalized estimate, use your my Social Security account at ssa.gov. See also our guide to how much you need to retire.