Social Security calculator

How this calculator works

Everything starts from your benefit at full retirement age, the primary insurance amount on your Social Security statement. Claiming earlier or later moves it by fixed rules, applied month by month.

• Before full retirement age, the check is cut by 5/9 of 1% for each of the first 36 months early and 5/12 of 1% for each month beyond that. The earliest age is 62.
• After full retirement age, each month you wait adds 2/3 of 1%, or 8% a year, until 70. Waiting past 70 adds nothing.
• Lifetime totals add every check from the month you claim to your plan-to age. The break-even age is where a later start has paid as much in total as an earlier one.

We assume your first check is for the month you reach the claiming age. Figures are in today's dollars: the 3.6% cost-of-living increase for 2027 and later ones are left out, so every age compares like for like.

A worked example: $2,000 at full retirement age

Take someone born in January 1960 with $2,000 a month at full retirement age, which is 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later.

At 62 the claim is 60 months early: 36 months at 5/9 of 1% (20%) plus 24 months at 5/12 of 1% (10%) makes a 30% cut. At 70 it is 36 months late at 2/3 of 1%, a 24% increase. Waiting from 62 to 67 breaks even at about 78 and 8 months, 67 against 70 at 82 and a half, and 62 against 70 at about 80 and 4 months. Live past those ages and the later start pays more in total; die before them and the earlier one does.

Is Social Security running out of money?

The reserve is projected to run out, not the benefits. The 2026 Trustees Report projects that the OASI trust fund, which pays retirement and survivor benefits, will be depleted in the fourth quarter of 2032: "Upon reserve depletion in 2032, projected income is sufficient to pay 78 percent of scheduled benefits. This percentage declines gradually to 62 percent by 2100."

With the projected cut box ticked, the calculator pays 78% of every check from January 2033, the first full year after that projected depletion, and holds it there. In the example, $2,000 becomes $1,560 from 2033, and the totals to 85 become $342,048 (claiming at 62), $368,640 (67) and $367,834 (70). The cut narrows the gap between ages, because more of a later claimer's checks fall after 2032. This is the Trustees' projection of what current law would pay if Congress does not act, not a forecast of ours. For the retirement and disability funds combined, the Trustees project depletion in 2034, with 83% payable.

What this calculator leaves out

• Income tax on benefits and Medicare premiums.
• The earnings test, which can hold back benefits from people who claim early while still working.
• Children's benefits, divorced spouses, disability and the family maximum.
• Investment returns: totals simply add the checks.
• Social Security's own rounding.

When should I claim Social Security?

There is no single right age, and the calculator does not pick one. Claiming early pays more checks, each smaller; waiting pays fewer, larger ones that last for life. The break-even ages show where the totals cross. Health, family history, other savings and work plans decide which side of them a person is likely to land on. For a couple, the higher earner's claiming age also sets the survivor's check.

How much does claiming at 62 reduce my benefit?

For anyone born in 1960 or later, by 30%: the check is 70% of the full amount. With a full retirement age of 66 (born 1943 to 1954), it is 25%. The cut is permanent: cost-of-living increases are added to the reduced amount.

What is my full retirement age?

66 for people born from 1943 to 1954, rising two months per birth year to 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later. If you were born on the 1st of a month, Social Security treats you as born in the month before; born on January 1, as born in December of the year before. Tick "Born on the 1st of the month" to apply this.

How much more do I get if I wait until 70?

8% for each year past full retirement age, added month by month: 24% more with a full retirement age of 67, 32% with 66.

How does the spouse benefit work?

A spouse can get up to 50% of the other person's full retirement age benefit, once that person has claimed. Taken early it is cut faster than a worker's own benefit: at 62, with a full retirement age of 67, it is 32.5% of the worker's amount. It earns no delayed credits. Social Security pays the higher of a person's own benefit and the spouse benefit, not both, and under deemed filing, applying for one counts as applying for the other. A surviving spouse keeps the larger of the two checks, including any delayed credits; survivor benefits can start at 60 at 71.5%, reaching 100% at the survivor's full retirement age.