When should you claim Social Security? Points Frog's Social Security claiming age calculator shows your monthly check at any age from 62 to 70. It also shows what each age pays over a lifetime and the break-even age, when waiting comes out ahead.
For anyone born in 1960 or later, claiming at 62 pays 70% of the full benefit for life. Waiting until full retirement age, 67, pays 100%, and waiting until 70 pays 124%. In total, waiting from 62 to 70 catches up from about age 80 and 5 months, whatever the size of the benefit. Live past that, and the later claim stays ahead for life.
Social Security's own planning guide says there is no single best age for everyone. The calculator shows the trade in dollars.
A worked example
The calculator opens on someone born in 1964 whose Social Security Statement shows $2,000 a month at full retirement age. It counts benefits up to age 85, in today's dollars.
| Claim at | A month | Collected by 85 |
|---|---|---|
| 62 | $1,400 | $386,400 |
| 67 | $2,000 | $432,000 |
| 70 | $2,480 | $446,400 |
Claiming at 70 pays the most by 85, $60,000 more than claiming at 62. Claiming at 62 leads until the late 70s. Waiting from 62 to 67 comes out ahead from 78 and 8 months, and waiting from 67 to 70 from 82 and 6 months. By 95, claiming at 70 has paid $189,600 more than claiming at 62.
How the rules work
Claiming early cuts the benefit by 5/9 of 1% for each of the first 36 months before full retirement age. Each month beyond that costs 5/12 of 1%. With a full retirement age of 67, claiming at 62 is 60 months early, a 30% cut. The cut lasts for life.
Waiting earns delayed retirement credits of 2/3 of 1% a month, or 8% a year, for anyone born in 1943 or later. They stop at 70, so there is nothing to gain by waiting longer.
Full retirement age depends on your year of birth. It is 66 for people born from 1943 to 1954. It rises by two months a year for those born from 1955 to 1959, and it is 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later. If you were born on January 1, use the year before.
What moves the answer most
How long you live is the biggest lever, and averages hide a wide spread. Social Security's 2023 period life table says a 62-year-old man can expect to live to about 82 and a woman to about 85. Yet 43% of 62-year-old men and 55% of women live to 85. And 23% of the men and 34% of the women reach 90.
A spouse matters too. A widow or widower can get up to 100% of the benefit you were receiving, delayed credits included, once they reach their own full retirement age for survivor benefits. So when the higher earner waits, the bigger check can outlast them. A spouse's benefit of up to half of yours, by contrast, doesn't grow if you wait past full retirement age.
Work matters if you claim early. In 2026, Social Security holds back $1 for every $2 you earn over $24,480. In the year you reach full retirement age, it holds back $1 for every $3 over $65,160. For 2027 the limits rise to $25,560 and $67,920. Held-back benefits aren't lost: your benefit is recalculated at full retirement age to credit them.
What the calculator leaves out
The page calls itself an educational estimate of your own retirement benefit, not financial advice. It leaves out spousal and survivor benefits, taxes, Medicare premiums and the earnings test, and the law can change. It also adds up checks without investment returns. If you would invest early checks, the page notes, the break-even age moves later.
It skips cost-of-living adjustments on purpose. They raise a benefit every year from 62, whether or not you have started it, so they lift every claiming age by the same share. The latest, for 2027, is 3.6%.
Where the figures come from
The reduction and credit rules come from Social Security's pages on claiming early and on delayed retirement credits, and from 20 CFR 404.410. The shares match the table Social Security's actuaries publish. Life expectancy comes from the 2023 period life table used in the 2026 Trustees Report. The page's rules and figures were checked on ssa.gov on October 18, 2026.
Use it on your own site
The Social Security calculator is free to embed on a blog or site with copy-and-paste code, with no ads or tracking. See how to embed it.
Source: SSA, Starting your retirement benefits early; SSA, Delayed retirement credits; SSA, Actuarial life table; SSA, 2027 cost-of-living adjustment fact sheet. Rules and figures checked on ssa.gov on October 18, 2026. Figures are educational estimates, not financial advice.