Social Security Calculator
Estimate your benefit at 62, full retirement age, and 70, projected with COLA.
Your earnings and age
From your My Social Security statement at ssa.gov.
Used only to project benefits forward in future dollars.
Monthly benefit at full retirement age
$5,466
Full retirement age: 67 years
Monthly benefit by claiming age (projected with COLA)
Age 62
$3,333
Reduced for claiming early
Age 67 (FRA)
$5,466
Age 70
$7,363
Increased for delaying
Net of the current Medicare Part B premium
Age 62
$3,130
Age 67 (FRA)
$5,263
Age 70
$7,160
Estimate calculated from the numbers you entered. This is not financial, tax, or legal advice — always consult a qualified professional before making significant financial decisions.
How the Social Security Calculator works
This tool applies the actual SSA benefit formula — the 90%/32%/15% bend-point formula — to your average indexed monthly earnings to estimate your Primary Insurance Amount (PIA), then adjusts it for claiming at 62, your full retirement age, or 70, and projects it forward using an assumed cost-of-living adjustment.
The formula
PIA = 90% × AIME up to $1,286 + 32% × AIME $1,286-$7,749 + 15% × AIME above $7,749Claiming before full retirement age reduces the PIA by 5/9 of 1% per month for the first 36 months early, and 5/12 of 1% per month beyond that. Claiming after full retirement age increases it by 2/3 of 1% per month (8% per year), up to age 70.
Common mistakes
- Assuming full retirement age is always 67 — it's a sliding scale from 66 up to 67 depending on birth year, and only locks at 67 for anyone born 1960 or later.
- Forgetting the early-claiming penalty and delayed credit are both permanent, not temporary — they apply for the rest of your life once you claim.
- Treating the 2027 COLA figure as confirmed — the real number isn't announced by SSA until October of the prior year; this calculator lets you set your own assumption.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I find my AIME?
AIME (Average Indexed Monthly Earnings) isn't printed directly on your Social Security statement, but you can back into a close estimate: your statement at ssa.gov shows your "Estimated Monthly Benefit" at full retirement age, and this calculator's formula can be reversed, or you can use SSA's own detailed calculators for the exact AIME. As a rule of thumb, AIME is roughly your career-average monthly earnings, indexed for wage growth, capped by the Social Security taxable maximum each year.
How much does claiming early or late actually change my benefit?
Claiming at 62 instead of a full retirement age of 67 cuts your monthly benefit by 30% — permanently. Waiting until 70 instead of 67 increases it by 24%, also permanently. Between 62 and 70, that's a roughly 77% difference in monthly benefit for the exact same earnings record, which is why claiming age is one of the biggest levers in retirement planning.
Why does the formula have three different percentages?
Social Security's benefit formula is intentionally progressive: it replaces 90% of your first $1,286 of average monthly earnings, 32% of earnings between $1,286 and $7,749, and just 15% of earnings above that. This means lower earners get a higher percentage of their pre-retirement income replaced than higher earners — the two dollar thresholds are called 'bend points' and are set based on the year you turn 62.
Does this include the Medicare Part B premium correctly?
This calculator subtracts today's standard Medicare Part B premium ($202.90/month for 2026) from your projected benefit, as an approximation of what actually lands in your bank account once you're enrolled in Medicare (typically at 65). It doesn't project how the premium itself will rise over time, and it doesn't account for the income-related surcharge (IRMAA) that applies to higher earners — both would reduce your net benefit further.
Sources
What actually moves this number
Specific levers, and roughly what each one is worth. Not “save more” — the things that change the figure above by an amount you can measure.
Check your earnings record for missing years
Benefits use your highest 35 years of indexed earnings, and errors do occur. Reviewing the record in your SSA account is a fifteen-minute check on a number that will pay out for decades.
Fill zero years if you are near 35
Fewer than 35 years of earnings means zeros are averaged in. One more year of work can replace a zero rather than merely a low year, which is a disproportionately large increase to the eventual benefit.
Coordinate claiming ages if you are married
The higher earner delaying to 70 also raises the survivor benefit for whichever spouse lives longer. Treating the two claims as one decision usually beats optimizing each separately.
Delaying is an inflation-protected 8% a year
Between full retirement age and 70, the benefit grows roughly 8% annually, and the increase is permanent and COLA-adjusted. No fixed-income instrument offers a comparable guaranteed real return.
What this calculator does not cover
Every calculator simplifies, and the useful thing is knowing exactly where. These are the specific gaps between this estimate and your real situation:
- It estimates from the benefit formula using the earnings you enter. Your actual benefit uses your full indexed earnings record, which the SSA holds and publishes in your online account.
- Future cost-of-living adjustments are unknown. The 2026 COLA is confirmed at 2.8%; later years are not.
- The earnings test, which temporarily reduces benefits for people claiming before full retirement age while still working, is not modeled.
- Spousal, survivor, and divorced-spouse benefits follow separate rules not covered here.
- Taxation of benefits is not modeled — up to 85% of benefits can be taxable depending on combined income.
For anything that turns on an exact figure, use the primary sources below or a qualified professional. How these limits are decided and disclosed is described in the editorial standards.
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