How much smaller is my benefit if I claim at 62?

With a full retirement age of 67, claiming at 62 permanently reduces your check by 30% — the SSA reduces it 5/9 of 1% per month for the first 36 months early and 5/12 of 1% for each month beyond. The reduction lasts for life.

How much bigger is my benefit if I wait until 70?

Delayed retirement credits add 8% per year past full retirement age. With an FRA of 67, claiming at 70 pays 124% of your full benefit — a 24% raise, for life. Credits stop accruing at 70, so there is never a reason to wait past it.

What are the break-even ages?

Roughly: claiming at 62 collects more in total unless you live past about 78–79 (versus claiming at 67), and waiting until 70 pays off if you live past about 82–83. Since an average 65-year-old lives to roughly 84 (men) or 87 (women), waiting wins for at least half of people — but it is genuinely a longevity bet, not a math problem with one right answer.

Does this include spousal or survivor benefits?

No — this is a single-person view. For married couples, the higher earner delaying to 70 also raises the survivor benefit the widowed spouse keeps for life, which is often the strongest reason to wait and is not priced in here.

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Social Security Break-Even Calculator

Claim at 62 and every check is permanently smaller; wait until 70 and every check is permanently bigger. Which wins depends on one thing nobody knows — how long you'll live. Grab your benefit from your ssa.gov statement and see the trade priced honestly. Everything runs in your browser.

Monthly benefit at full retirement age

Full retirement age

Assume you live to

Best at that longevity

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Claim at 62

Claim at FRA

Claim at 70

Monthly check at every claiming age

Total collected by age — where the lines cross

Claim at 62 Claim at FRA Claim at 70

Married? Model the household

A couple's claiming decision is bigger than either break-even: when the first of you dies, the household drops to one check — the larger one. Enter your spouse's FRA benefit (from their own ssa.gov statement) to see household totals and what the survivor keeps.

Spouse's monthly benefit at FRA

You claim at

Spouse claims at

Not modeled: spousal top-ups while you're both alive, the divorced-spouse rules, or an age gap — this treats you both as the same age, in today's dollars. The comparison is your chosen ages vs. one honest alternative, not a sweep of every combination pretending to an optimum.

Worth knowing: amounts are in today's dollars — the annual COLA raises every claiming path equally, so it doesn't change the comparison. What this single-person view can't price: survivor benefits (a couple's higher earner delaying raises the check the surviving spouse keeps for life — often the strongest reason to wait), the earnings test if you claim before FRA while still working, and taxes on benefits.

How claiming age changes your check

Social Security computes one number for you — your benefit at full retirement age (67 for anyone born 1960 or later) — and then adjusts it by exactly when you start. Claim early and the SSA reduces the check 5/9 of 1% for each of the first 36 months and 5/12 of 1% for every month beyond; at 62 with an FRA of 67, that adds up to a permanent 30% cut. Wait past FRA and delayed retirement credits add 8% per year, topping out at 124% at age 70. These aren't estimates — they're the statutory factors, and they're what this calculator applies.

Congress set the factors to be roughly actuarially fair at average lifespans — the totals come out similar. Which is precisely why your personal longevity guess is the whole decision.

Reading the break-even ages

Claiming at 62 means five to eight extra years of checks, each one smaller. Waiting means fewer, bigger checks. The break-even is the age where the patient path's total catches the early path's total — typically around 78–79 for 62-versus-FRA, and 82–83 for FRA-versus-70. Live shorter than the break-even and claiming early collected more; live longer and waiting wins by a growing margin every year.

One fact worth holding next to those numbers: an average 65-year-old American man lives to about 84, a woman to about 87 — and half live longer. For most healthy people, the odds mildly favor waiting. But "mildly favor" is not "always right": health, family history, whether you need the income to quit a job you're done with, and what your portfolio would have to cover in the meantime all belong in the decision.

The factors, precisely

Early claiming: benefit × (1 − 5/9% × months early, for the first 36 months − 5/12% × months beyond 36). Delayed claiming: benefit × (1 + 2/3% × months past FRA), capped at age 70. With FRA 67: 70% at 62, 75% at 63, 80% at 64, 86.7% at 65, 93.3% at 66, 100% at 67, 108% at 68, 116% at 69, 124% at 70. Born 1955–1959? Your FRA is 66 plus a few months — either toggle option lands within about 1% of your true factors.

Common questions

I'm married — does that change the answer?

Often decisively, and in waiting's favor. When one spouse dies, the survivor keeps the larger of the two checks — so the higher earner delaying to 70 buys a bigger benefit for whichever of you lives longest. Two lifetimes of insurance on one decision. This single-person calculator can't price that; treat its answer as a floor on the case for waiting.

Can I work and claim at 62?

You can, but the earnings test temporarily withholds $1 of benefits for every $2 you earn above an annual limit the SSA raises yearly — about $24,000 in 2026 — until full retirement age. Withheld amounts come back as a recomputed benefit later, but the cash-flow reality surprises people. After FRA, work all you like — no test.

Will Social Security even be there?

The 2025 Trustees Report projects the trust fund covers full benefits into the early 2030s, after which incoming payroll taxes would still fund roughly 78% — absent action from Congress (which has acted before, in 1983). A cautious plan models a haircut rather than zero.

Where do I find my FRA benefit?

Create or open your account at ssa.gov/myaccount — your statement shows the monthly benefit at full retirement age (and at 62 and 70). Use the FRA number here; the calculator derives the rest with the exact factors.

The claiming age is one input — the plan is the answer

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Social Security Break-Even Calculator

How claiming age changes your check

Reading the break-even ages

Common questions

The claiming age is one input — the plan is the answer

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