Social Security timing calculator
When should you start Social Security?
You can start any month from 62 to 70. See your check at each birthday, when waiting catches up, and what it takes from savings to wait. There's no single right answer, only yours.
Your Social Security timing results
Your full benefit, at 67
$2,000 a month
In today's dollars. Each year's cost-of-living increase comes on top, whichever age you choose.
Start at 62
$1,400
70% of full · $470,400 by 90
Start at 67
$2,000
100% of full · $552,000 by 90
Start at 70
$2,480
124% of full · $595,200 by 90
When waiting catches up
Waiting means fewer checks, but bigger ones. This is the age when the bigger checks have added up to as much.
- Waiting from 62 to 67: about 78 and 8 months
- Waiting from 67 to 70: about 82 and 6 months
- Waiting from 62 to 70: about 80 and 5 months
Live past that age and waiting paid more in total. By 90, starting at 70 adds up to the most: $595,200.
What it takes from savings to wait
If you'd otherwise live on the age-62 check, waiting means your savings cover it instead. Today's dollars, before tax.
Wait until 67
About $84,000 from savings
Then $600 more every month, for life.
Wait until 70
About $134,400 from savings
Then $1,080 more every month, for life.
Checks collected, by age
Everything each choice has paid by each birthday, in today's dollars.
- Start at 62
- Start at 67
- Start at 70
See every birthday from 62 to 70
| Start at | Per month | Share of full | Total by 90 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62 | $1,400 | 70% | $470,400 |
| 63 | $1,500 | 75% | $486,000 |
| 64 | $1,600 | 80% | $499,200 |
| 65 | $1,733 | 86.7% | $519,900 |
| 66 | $1,866 | 93.3% | $537,408 |
| 67 | $2,000 | 100% | $552,000 |
| 68 | $2,160 | 108% | $570,240 |
| 69 | $2,320 | 116% | $584,640 |
| 70 | $2,480 | 124% | $595,200 |
Next: read when to claim, if you stop work early, or map the years before it starts with the Withdrawal rate explorer.
The math
Your full benefit is what you get at full retirement age: 67 if you were born in 1960 or later (SSA (opens in a new tab)). Start earlier and every check is smaller, for life. Wait and every check is bigger, up to 70.
each month early: 5/9 of 1% less (the first 36), then 5/12 of 1%
each month late: 2/3 of 1% more, which is 8% a year
Those are SSA's rules (SSA's table by year of birth (opens in a new tab), delayed retirement credits (opens in a new tab)). Checks are rounded down to the dollar, as SSA does.
The catch-up age is simple arithmetic: the age when the bigger, later checks have added up to as much as the smaller, earlier ones. Setting a real return above 0% counts what your savings could earn while you wait, which pushes the catch-up later.
If you stop work early
Your statement may be too high. SSA's estimates assume you keep earning what you earned last year until you start benefits (SSA (opens in a new tab)). If you plan to stop at 45, that's years of pay that won't happen. This calculator takes your full benefit as fixed and applies SSA's percentages to it, so it can't see that either. SSA's own Quick Calculator lets you enter an earlier retirement date (SSA (opens in a new tab)).
The rough estimate works like this. SSA averages your top 35 years of earnings, adjusted for wage growth; missing years count as zero (SSA (opens in a new tab)). Then it applies a formula that counts your first dollars most: 90% of the first $1,286 a month, 32% up to $7,749, and 15% above that, for 2026 (SSA (opens in a new tab)). Pay above $184,500 doesn't count (SSA (opens in a new tab)), and you need 40 credits to qualify (SSA (opens in a new tab)).
average monthly earnings ≈ yearly pay × years worked (up to 35) ÷ 35 ÷ 12
It's a sketch. Your real record has a different amount each year, and the formula uses the figures for the year you turn 62. Check your own earnings record too: a missing year counts as zero.
What it leaves out
- A spouse or survivor. When the higher earner waits, a surviving spouse can get a bigger check, possibly for decades (SSA (opens in a new tab)). Couples should look at both ages together.
- Taxes and work. Part of your benefit can be taxed, and working while you collect before full retirement age can hold back some checks for a while.
- Your health and the future. No one knows how long they'll live, or what Congress will change.
The Social Security guide covers each of these, with SSA's and the IRS's figures. If a pension will pay part of your costs, try the Pension + FIRE calculator too.
Sources
- SSA: Starting your retirement benefits early (opens in a new tab) Full retirement age and the age-62 reduction for each year of birth.
- SSA Office of the Chief Actuary: Effect of early or delayed retirement on retirement benefits (opens in a new tab) The share of the full benefit paid at each starting age, by year of birth.
- SSA: Delayed retirement credits (opens in a new tab) 8% a year (2/3 of 1% a month) for anyone born in 1943 or later. The increase stops at 70.
- SSA: Benefit calculation basics (average indexed monthly earnings) (opens in a new tab) Up to 35 years of indexed earnings are averaged.
- SSA: Primary insurance amount formula (2026 bend points) (opens in a new tab)
- SSA: Contribution and benefit base (opens in a new tab) Earnings above $184,500 in 2026 aren't taxed or counted for benefits.
- SSA: How you earn credits (opens in a new tab) 40 credits to qualify; one per $1,890 of earnings in 2026, up to four a year.
- SSA Briefing Paper 2020-01: Analysis of benefit estimates shown in the Social Security Statement (opens in a new tab) Statement estimates assume you keep earning what you earned last year until you start benefits.
- SSA: Quick Calculator questions (opens in a new tab) Enter a retirement date before 62 to see what stopping work early does to your estimate.
- SSA: Survivor benefit amounts (opens in a new tab)
- SSA: my Social Security (see your own statement and benefit estimates) (opens in a new tab)
Links checked October 14, 2026.