RETIREMENT
Your Social Security benefit depends on two things: the earnings record you build up over your working life and, just as much, the age at which you claim it. This calculator gives you a rough estimate of your monthly benefit at different claiming ages, so you can see in plain dollars what waiting a few years could be worth.
Social Security calculator
This is a rough estimate using the 2025 bend points, a full retirement age of 67 and steady earnings. It takes your estimated average indexed monthly earnings as your monthly earnings multiplied by your years worked (capped at 35) and divided by 35, then passes that figure through the bend-point formula: 90% of the first $1,226, plus 32% of the amount between $1,226 and $7,391, plus 15% of any amount above $7,391. Claiming before 67 reduces the result, and delaying past 67 increases it by 8% a year up to age 70. The real figure comes from your Social Security statement and your actual earnings record. Results are estimates for educational purposes only and are not financial advice.
Say you earn $72,000 a year and will have worked 35 years by the time you claim.
Your average indexed monthly earnings come to $6,000. Put through the bend point formula, that gives a benefit of $2,631.08 a month at 67, your full retirement age. Over a year that is $31,572.96.
Claim at 62 instead and the payment drops to $1,841.76 a month, because claiming five years early cuts the benefit by about 30%. Wait until 70 and it rises to $3,262.54 a month, thanks to the 8% a year increase for delaying past 67. The gap between claiming at 62 and waiting until 70 is $1,420.78 a month, every month, for the rest of your life. That is the trade-off this calculator puts in front of you: more years of smaller payments, or fewer years of larger ones.
You can review your earnings record and benefit estimates on the Social Security Administration website.
Your benefit starts with your earnings. Social Security looks at your best 35 years of earnings, adjusts them for wage growth, and averages them into a single monthly figure called your average indexed monthly earnings. If you have worked for fewer than 35 years, the missing years count as zeros, which pulls the average down.
That average is then passed through a formula built around bend points. Using the 2025 bend points, the formula replaces 90% of the first $1,226 of monthly earnings, 32% of earnings between $1,226 and $7,391, and 15% of anything above $7,391. Because the first slice is replaced at 90%, the formula replaces a higher share of income for lower earners than for higher earners. The result is your primary insurance amount: the benefit you would receive at full retirement age.
Your claiming age then scales that amount down or up, and the change lasts for life. Claiming early reduces the payment every month, while delaying past full retirement age increases it by 8% for each year you wait, up to age 70. Spousal and survivor benefits exist on top of your own benefit and follow their own rules, and this calculator does not estimate them.
Full retirement age is 67 for people born in 1960 or later. For older birth years it is 66 and a few months, rising gradually from 66 for people born in the mid-1950s.
There is no single right answer. Claiming at 62 pays about 30% less than at full retirement age, for life, while waiting until 70 pays about 24% more than at 67. The break-even point, where the higher delayed payments catch up with the money given up by waiting, is usually in the late 70s or early 80s, so your health, whether you are still working, and how much you have saved all feed into the decision.
Your benefit is calculated from your best 35 years of earnings. Those earnings are averaged into a monthly figure, which is passed through a formula that replaces 90% of the first band of income, then 32% of the next band, then 15% above that, to give the amount payable at full retirement age.
Yes, you can work and claim Social Security at the same time. Before full retirement age, however, an earnings limit applies, and part of your benefit can be temporarily withheld if you earn above it. After full retirement age there is no limit, and you can earn as much as you like without reducing your benefit.