See your exact benefit at every claiming age, find your personal breakeven point, and estimate how much of your benefit will be taxable. Updated for 2026 rules.
Your benefit estimate
Monthly benefit at Full Retirement Age (FRA)
$
Find this on your Social Security statement at ssa.gov/myaccount — labeled "your estimated benefit at full retirement age"
Your full retirement age
Breakeven analysis
Life expectancy (age)
85
Taxation estimate (optional)
Filing status
Other annual income (pension, IRA withdrawals, etc.)
$
Claim at 62
$0
−30% vs FRA
Full retirement age
$0
100% of PIA
Claim at 70
$0
+24% vs FRA
Monthly benefit by claiming age
Breakeven age (62 vs FRA)
Age 0
Breakeven age (FRA vs 70)
Age 0
Lifetime total at your life expectancy — claim 62
$0
Lifetime total at your life expectancy — claim 70
$0
Benefit by exact claiming age
Claiming age
Monthly benefit
% of FRA benefit
Annual benefit
Estimated taxation of benefits
Combined income (AGI + nontaxable interest + ½ SS benefit)$0
Taxable threshold (your filing status)$0
Estimated % of benefit taxable0%
The core tradeoff: claiming at 62 gets you 96 extra months of checks but at a permanently reduced rate. Claiming at 70 gets you the highest possible monthly check but fewer years to collect it. The "right" answer depends heavily on your health, family longevity, other income sources, and whether you're still working.
This calculator uses 2026 SSA claiming-age adjustment rules and combined-income tax thresholds. It does not calculate your actual PIA from earnings history — enter the FRA benefit estimate from your official Social Security statement for accuracy. Does not account for spousal benefits, survivor benefits, the earnings test, or WEP/GPO provisions. Not tax or financial advice.
How this Social Security estimator works
This calculator takes your Full Retirement Age (FRA) benefit estimate — found on your official Social Security statement at ssa.gov/myaccount — and applies the SSA's 2026 claiming-age adjustment formulas to show your benefit at every age from 62 to 70. It does not calculate your Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) from your raw earnings history — that calculation requires your complete 35-year indexed earnings record, which only the SSA has. Starting from your official FRA estimate is both more accurate and simpler than attempting to reconstruct the calculation yourself.
A worked example
A worker with an FRA (age 67) benefit of $2,400/month:
$2,400/month FRA benefit — claiming at three ages
Claim at 62 (60 months early)$1,680/mo (70% of FRA)
Claim at FRA (67)$2,400/mo (100% of FRA)
Claim at 70 (36 months late)$2,976/mo (124% of FRA)
The difference between claiming at 62 and 70 is $1,296/month — nearly 77% more income every month for the rest of the retiree's life, in exchange for 8 fewer years of payments. This is the central tradeoff every Social Security claiming decision comes down to: more years of smaller checks, or fewer years of larger checks.
Why claiming age matters more than most people realize
Claiming Social Security at age 62 reduces your monthly benefit by up to 30% compared to your full retirement age — permanently, for life. The reduction formula: your benefit is reduced by 5/9 of 1% for each of the first 36 months claimed before FRA, and 5/12 of 1% for each additional month beyond that. Waiting past FRA works in the opposite direction — your benefit grows by approximately 8% per year (2/3 of 1% per month) up to age 70, when delayed credits stop accruing entirely. There's no benefit to waiting past 70.
The breakeven concept: if you claim early, you collect more total checks in the early years but at a lower rate. If you delay, you collect fewer total checks but at a higher rate. At some age — the breakeven age — the cumulative dollars from delaying catch up to and surpass the cumulative dollars from claiming early. For claiming 62 vs FRA, breakeven typically falls in the late 70s to early 80s. For FRA vs 70, breakeven typically falls in the early-to-mid 80s. If you expect to live beyond the breakeven age, delaying produces more lifetime income; if not, claiming earlier does.
Why breakeven age alone shouldn't drive the decision: the breakeven calculation treats the decision as purely mathematical, but Social Security also functions as longevity insurance and inflation-protected income. A higher guaranteed monthly benefit reduces sequence-of-returns risk on your other retirement assets (see our sequence of returns risk guide) and provides more protection if you live longer than expected — which is precisely the scenario where running out of other money would matter most.
Frequently asked questions
How is my benefit taxed?
Whether your Social Security benefit is taxable depends on your "combined income" — your adjusted gross income, plus nontaxable interest, plus half of your Social Security benefit. For single filers, if combined income is between $25,000 and $34,000, up to 50% of benefits may be taxable; above $34,000, up to 85% may be taxable. For married filing jointly, the thresholds are $32,000 and $44,000. These thresholds are not inflation-indexed and have not changed since 1983 — meaning more retirees become subject to taxation each year as incomes rise with inflation. This calculator provides a simplified estimate; consult a tax professional for your exact situation.
What if I keep working after claiming benefits?
If you claim benefits before reaching FRA and continue working, the earnings test applies. In 2026, if you're under FRA all year, $1 in benefits is withheld for every $2 you earn above $24,480. In the year you reach FRA, the limit rises to $65,160, with $1 withheld per $3 earned above that, counting only earnings before the month you reach FRA. Importantly, withheld benefits aren't lost — the SSA recalculates your benefit upward at FRA to account for the months benefits were withheld. Once you reach FRA, you can earn any amount without any reduction.
Does this calculator account for spousal benefits?
No — this calculator estimates individual benefits only. Spousal benefit rules are significantly more complex: a lower-earning spouse can receive up to 50% of the higher earner's PIA (at the spouse's own FRA), and survivor benefits allow a widow or widower to receive up to 100% of the deceased spouse's benefit. Married couples should model both spouses' claiming decisions together, since the higher earner's claiming age affects the survivor benefit available to the lower earner if the higher earner dies first. This is a common area where professional guidance adds real value.
Is Social Security going to run out of money?
The Social Security Trustees project the combined trust funds will be depleted in the mid-2030s under current law, at which point incoming payroll taxes would cover approximately 80% of scheduled benefits — not zero. Congress has adjusted the program multiple times historically (most significantly in 1983) and could do so again before depletion. No benefit cut has occurred to date. This uncertainty is a legitimate factor in claiming decisions but shouldn't be treated as a reason to assume benefits will disappear entirely.
Where do I find my actual FRA benefit estimate?
Create a free account at ssa.gov/myaccount. Your Social Security Statement shows your estimated benefit at 62, at full retirement age, and at 70, calculated from your actual earnings record — far more accurate than any third-party estimator. Check this at least annually, since your estimate changes as new earnings years are added and as you approach retirement. Also verify your earnings history is complete and accurate — missing or incorrect years can meaningfully reduce your benefit.