Social Security Break-Even Calculator

Claiming early pays a smaller check for more months; claiming later pays a bigger check for fewer months. The break-even age is the age at which the two running totals are equal. Add up each month you would be paid under each plan, and find the first age where the later claim's total is at least the earlier one's.

Worked example. You were born on July 2, 1964, so your full retirement age is 67, and your statement shows $2,000 a month at 67. Claiming at 62 pays 70% of that, $1,400 a month. Claiming at 70 pays 124%, $2,480 a month. (You must be 62 for the whole month, so 62 exactly is available only with a birthday on the 2nd. With any other birthday the earliest month is 62 and 1 month: for a June 15 birthday that is $1,408.30 a month, and the 62-versus-67 break-even is one month later.)

• 62 versus 67: you collect 60 extra months at $1,400 = $84,000 before 67. Waiting adds $600 a month, so it takes $84,000 / $600 = 140 months, about 11 years, 8 months, after 67 to catch up: age 78 years, 8 months.
• 67 versus 70: the 36 months you skip are worth $72,000; the raise is $480 a month, so it takes 150 months after 70: age 82 years, 6 months.
• 62 versus 70: the later claim passes at 80 years, 5 months.

By age 85 the totals are $386,400 (claim at 62), $432,000 (claim at 67) and $446,400 (claim at 70), in today's dollars before Medicare and taxes. Die at 75 and the 62 claim wins; live to 90 and the 70 claim wins by far more. The calculator above runs the same arithmetic with your own numbers.

Claiming before full retirement age. Your benefit is cut by 5/9 of 1% for each month before full retirement age, up to 36 months, and by 5/12 of 1% for each month beyond that (42 U.S.C. 402(q); 20 CFR 404.410). With a full retirement age of 67, claiming at 62 is 60 months early: 36 x 5/9% + 24 x 5/12% = 30%, so you get 70%.

Claiming after full retirement age. For people born in 1943 or later, you earn delayed retirement credits of 2/3 of 1% for each month you wait after full retirement age, which is 8% a year, and the credits stop at 70 (42 U.S.C. 402(w); SSA, delayed retirement credits). Waiting past 70 adds nothing.

Rounding. SSA rounds a reduction up to the next 10 cents and a delayed credit increase down to the next 10 cents (20 CFR 404.410 and 404.313), and pays whole dollars after Medicare deductions (42 U.S.C. 415(g)). The calculator stops at the dime and shows benefits before Medicare.

January timing. If you claim before 70, some of your delayed credits are not applied until the January after you start benefits (SSA, delayed retirement credits; 20 CFR 404.313(c)). The calculator's default, like SSA's own calculator, shows every credit applied from the first payment, which is the standard way to compare claiming ages. Turn on “Apply SSA's January timing” in the optional assumptions to model the lag.

SSA's table: percent of your benefit by claiming age

Source: SSA, Effect of early or delayed retirement on retirement benefits. Full retirement age is 66 for 1943-1954, then rises two months a year to 67 for people born in 1960 or later. Persons born on January 1 use the previous year.

Born in 1960 or later: every six months

Month-by-month figures are in SSA's early retirement and delayed retirement tables, which round to one decimal.

SSA applies each cost-of-living adjustment to your primary insurance amount, whatever age you claim. A benefit that is 70% of your PIA stays 70% of a larger PIA after each COLA, and a benefit at 124% stays at 124%. Because every claiming age rises by the same percentage, the running totals stay in the same proportion once inflation is removed, and the break-even age is the same. That is why the calculator defaults to 0% and shows today's dollars.

If you want future dollars, enter a COLA, but expect a big change. With a 3% COLA and no discount rate, the example's break-evens move from 78 years, 8 months, 80 years, 5 months and 82 years, 6 months to 76 years, 5 months, 78 years, 2 months and 80 years, 3 months, about 2 years, 3 months earlier, because the larger delayed checks grow with every COLA. To stay in today's dollars while using a COLA, enter the same percent as the discount rate; both rates step once a year from the year you turn 62, so equal rates give the same break-even ages as 0% and 0%. A discount rate above the COLA, such as a return you could earn by investing early checks, pushes the break-even later and can remove it. SSA's statement figures are in today's dollars and assume you keep working until each claiming age, so stopping work before then can lower your actual benefit; the COLA option here starts at 62. The 2027 raise is on Social Security COLA 2027.

• Longevity. Break-even treats your lifespan as a single number. Waiting works like insurance against a long life; claiming early works if you do not reach the break-even age. Use the live-to age to see both outcomes.
• Spousal and survivor benefits. A surviving spouse's benefit is computed from your PIA plus the delayed retirement credits you earned (20 CFR 404.313(e)(1)), so the higher earner delaying can raise the check the survivor lives on. Delayed credits do not raise a spousal benefit, which is based on your PIA (20 CFR 404.313(e)(2)), and a spouse who claims early has that benefit reduced. This calculator compares one person's retirement benefit only.
• Taxes. Up to 85% of benefits can be taxable depending on your other income. The taxable Social Security benefits calculator estimates it. Medicare Part B premiums are also deducted from most checks.
• The earnings test before full retirement age. If you claim early and keep working, SSA withholds benefits above a limit. In 2027 the limit is $25,560 a year before the year you reach full retirement age ($1 withheld for every $2 above it) and $67,920 in the year you reach it ($1 for every $3, counting only earnings before the month you reach full retirement age). Withheld benefits are not lost forever, because SSA recalculates your benefit at full retirement age to credit the months withheld. Details are on the 2027 COLA and earnings test page.
• Other income and risk. The discount rate option lets you test what happens if you invest early checks. Health, other savings, a pension and the need for cash now can matter more than a few months of break-even difference.