Social Security Claiming Calculator
When should I claim Social Security, and what does each age pay over a lifetime? Every piece below can be linked to, so it opens in a window on your reader's screen, current as of the record. No form to fill in.
2026 law · Reviewed September 6, 2026 · The full page, with methodology and sources · the terms · All tools
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The full-retirement-age benefit, the birth year, and a planning age in; the benefit at every claiming age from 62 to 70, the lifetime totals, and the break-even ages out. In a frame it carries no cookies, no tracking, and a visible link back to the methodology. Your site has to allow frames; most do. The link that opens it in a small window is on the professionals page.
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- In plain words.
- You can start Social Security any time from 62 to 70. Start early and each check is smaller for life; wait and each check is larger, but there are fewer of them. This tool takes the benefit on your Social Security statement and shows the monthly amount at each age, the total you would collect by the age you choose, and the ages at which waiting starts to pay off.
- Why it matters.
- It is one of the few retirement decisions that cannot be undone, and the difference between the earliest and the latest start is about 77 percent per check. The picture makes the trade concrete.
- An example.
- Someone whose statement shows $2,500 a month at full retirement age would get about $1,750 a month by starting at 62, or about $3,100 by waiting until 70.
- Where it stops.
- It leaves out cost-of-living increases, the earnings test if you keep working, benefits for a spouse or survivor, and tax. Each can move the answer, and a couple's decision is a different calculation.
The facts
Six quotable sentences from the regulations. The percentages are fixed by rule; only the dollars are yours.
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- Full retirement age is 66 for people born from 1943 through 1954, rises by two months for each birth year from 1955 through 1959 (66 and 10 months for 1959), and is 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later.
- Claiming before full retirement age reduces the benefit by five-ninths of one percent for each of the first 36 months and five-twelfths of one percent for each month beyond 36. For someone born in 1960 or later, claiming at 62 pays 70.0% of the full amount.
- Each month of delay past full retirement age adds two-thirds of one percent, or 8 percent a year, until age 70. Claiming at 70 with a full retirement age of 67 pays 124.0% of the full amount; with a full retirement age of 66, 132.0%.
- The spread from 62 to 70 is 77.1% for those born in 1960 or later: the same earnings record pays that much more each month for waiting eight years.
- In plain dollars, before cost-of-living increases, waiting from 62 to full retirement age catches up at about 78 and 9 months, and waiting from full retirement age to 70 catches up at about 82 and 7 months.
- Delayed credits stop at 70. There is no reason, under the retirement benefit rules alone, to wait past that month.
Benefit by claiming age
The whole rule as a table: what each claiming age pays, for the two full retirement ages most people have.
The button shows exactly what your reader sees when they click the link. Paste the link where a link goes; it opens this table in a small window, always current as of the record, with the attribution and a link to the full page. Nothing to copy out, nothing to update later.
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| Claiming age | Full retirement age 66 | Full retirement age 67 |
|---|---|---|
| 62 | 75.0% | 70.0% |
| 63 | 80.0% | 75.0% |
| 64 | 86.7% | 80.0% |
| 65 | 93.3% | 86.7% |
| 66 | 100.0% | 93.3% |
| 67 | 108.0% | 100.0% |
| 68 | 116.0% | 108.0% |
| 69 | 124.0% | 116.0% |
| 70 | 132.0% | 124.0% |
Cite and link.
The clean address, a citation generated from the record so it can never carry a stale review date, and an address for every section so you can point a reader at the exact table or method.
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- Link
- https://consideratecapital.com/tools/social-security-claiming-calculator
- Citation
- Considerate Capital, "Social Security Claiming Calculator," reviewed September 6, 2026, https://consideratecapital.com/tools/social-security-claiming-calculator.
Link to a section
- The calculator https://consideratecapital.com/tools/social-security-claiming-calculator#calculator
- The facts https://consideratecapital.com/tools/social-security-claiming-calculator#facts
- Benefit by claiming age https://consideratecapital.com/tools/social-security-claiming-calculator#key-numbers
- How the rules work https://consideratecapital.com/tools/social-security-claiming-calculator#how-it-works
- Methodology https://consideratecapital.com/tools/social-security-claiming-calculator#methodology
- Sources https://consideratecapital.com/tools/social-security-claiming-calculator#sources
- Revision history https://consideratecapital.com/tools/social-security-claiming-calculator#revision-history
Everything here reads from one reviewed record, so a copied piece carries its year and its review date. When the law moves, the embed updates by itself; a copied table or chart keeps the year in its caption. Corrections are welcome through the contact page.