Social Security Claiming Age Calculator: When Should You Start?
What you get at every age from 62 to 70, and when waiting overtakes claiming early. Estimates only, not financial advice.
What your benefit becomes at each age
Two numbers in. Enter the benefit estimate from your my Social Security account at SSA.gov, which is the amount you would get at full retirement age.
How the numbers work
Social Security starts from one figure: your benefit at full retirement age, which the SSA calls your primary insurance amount. Every claiming age is a percentage of it.
Claim before full retirement age and the benefit is cut. The reduction is 5/9 of one percent for each of the first 36 months early, then 5/12 of one percent for every month beyond that. With a full retirement age of 67, claiming at 62 leaves you with 70%.
Wait past full retirement age and you earn delayed retirement credits worth 2/3 of one percent a month, which is 8% a year. Waiting from 67 to 70 takes you to 124%. The credits stop dead at 70, so waiting longer gains you nothing at all.
Both changes are permanent. This is not a temporary reduction that corrects itself later.
What the break-even age does and does not tell you
The break-even age is the point where the bigger delayed cheques have made up for the years of payments you skipped. Before it, claiming early came out ahead in total dollars. After it, waiting did.
It is a useful number and a limited one. It assumes you want to maximise lifetime dollars, and it cannot know how long you will live. Three things usually matter more than the arithmetic.
Your health and family history. This is the honest core of the decision. If you have reason to expect a shorter life, claiming early is a reasonable choice rather than a mistake.
Whether you need the money. If claiming early means not drawing down savings during a bad market, or not working a job that is damaging your health, that can be worth more than a larger cheque later.
Your spouse. When one partner dies, the survivor keeps the larger of the two benefits. Delaying the higher earner's claim raises the payment most likely to be collected longest, which is why couples often split the decision rather than making it together.
Frequently asked questions
There is no single best age, which is why this calculator gives you a crossover point rather than an answer. Claiming at 62 gets you 70% of your full benefit but starts eight years sooner. Waiting until 70 gets you 124%. The break-even usually lands around age 80, so it comes down to your health, whether you need the money now, and whether you have a spouse who will inherit the larger benefit.
If your full retirement age is 67, claiming at 62 pays 70% of your full benefit, a 30% cut. The reduction is 5/9 of one percent for each of the first 36 months early, then 5/12 of one percent for each month beyond that. The cut is permanent, not a temporary reduction that catches up later.
8% more for each year you delay past full retirement age. With a full retirement age of 67, waiting until 70 pays 124% of your full benefit. Credits stop at 70, so there is no reason at all to wait beyond your 70th birthday.
67 for anyone born in 1960 or later. For people born between 1955 and 1959 it rises in two-month steps from 66 and 2 months to 66 and 10 months. Enter your birth year above and the calculator uses the right one.
Only if you live past the break-even age, which the calculator shows. Someone who claims at 62 and dies at 75 collected more in total than they would have by waiting. Someone who lives to 90 collects considerably more by waiting. Nobody knows which they are, which is why health and family history matter here more than arithmetic.
No, deliberately. Cost of living adjustments raise every benefit, whichever age you claimed at, so including them moves both sides of the comparison and leaves the break-even age almost unchanged. Leaving them out keeps the numbers in today's money and easier to read.
If you claim before full retirement age and keep earning above an annual limit, part of your benefit is withheld under the earnings test. It is not lost permanently, because your benefit is recalculated upward at full retirement age, but it changes the short-term picture. This calculator does not model it.
Often not. When one spouse dies the survivor keeps the larger of the two benefits, so delaying the higher earner's claim raises the payment that is most likely to be collected the longest. Couples frequently do best with the lower earner claiming earlier and the higher earner waiting.
Create a my Social Security account at SSA.gov. Your statement shows your estimated benefit at 62, at full retirement age, and at 70, based on your real earnings record. That figure is far better than any estimate, and this calculator is designed to take it as the input.