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Social Security works out one figure for you, the primary insurance amount (PIA): the monthly benefit if you start at your full retirement age. Start earlier and you get a permanently smaller share of it; wait past full age and you earn credits, up to age 70.

The formula

benefit = PIA × share for your start age
starting early: share = 100% − 5/9% × the first 36 months early − 5/12% × each month beyond 36
starting late: share = 100% + 2/3% × each month after full age (8% a year), up to age 70
PIA = 90% of AIME up to bend point 1 + 32% up to bend point 2 + 15% above
spousal top-up = (half the worker's PIA − spouse's own PIA) × spousal share (25/36% a month for the first 36 months early, 5/12% beyond)

Worked example

Born in June 1965, your full retirement age is 67. Your statement shows $2,000 a month at full age. Starting at 62 is 60 months early: the first 36 months cut 36 × 5/9% = 20% and the other 24 cut 24 × 5/12% = 10%, so you get 70%: $2,000 × 70% = $1,400 a month. To age 85 that is 23 years, or 276 months, so $1,400 × 276 = $386,400 in today's dollars.

Waiting to 67 pays $2,000 for 216 months = $432,000. Waiting to 70 adds 36 × 2/3% = 24%, so $2,480 for 180 months = $446,400. Starting at 69 and 9 months gives 22% extra, $2,440 for 183 months = $446,520, which is the most to age 85.

Break-even ages

Starting at 67 instead of 62 catches up when $1,400 × (age − 62) = $2,000 × (age − 67), which is at 78 years 8 months. Waiting from 67 to 70 catches up at 82 years 6 months, and 62 vs 70 at about 80 years 5 months. If you expect to live past the break-even age, waiting pays more in total; if not, starting earlier does.

Full retirement age by birth year

Working while you claim (the earnings test)

If you start before full age and keep working, Social Security holds back $1 for every $2 you earn over a yearly limit, and in the year you reach full age $1 for every $3 over a higher limit (only earnings before the month you reach full age count). For 2026 the limits used here are $24,480 and $65,160 (check on ssa.gov). Benefits held back are not lost: at full age your benefit is worked out again as if you had started that many months later. A special monthly rule can apply in your first year. The test stops at full age.

Spouses and survivors

• A spouse can get up to half of the worker's PIA at the spouse's own full age, less any benefit on their own record. Starting early cuts it; waiting past full age doesn't raise it. The worker must have started their own benefit first.
• A widow or widower at full age gets the larger of their own benefit or the worker's. If the worker started early, the survivor still gets at least 82.5% of the worker's PIA; if the worker waited, the survivor keeps the delayed credits. Survivors can start from 60 at a reduced rate.
• Since the Social Security Fairness Act (January 2025), the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset no longer cut benefits for people with a non-covered pension.

Estimating your PIA

Your AIME is your highest 35 years of earnings, each adjusted for wage growth, averaged and divided by 12. Earnings above the maximum taxable ($184,500 in 2026) don't count. The bend points used here, $1,286 and $7,749, are for people first eligible in 2026 (check on ssa.gov); your own are fixed in the year you turn 62. Example: an AIME of $6,000 gives 90% × $1,286 = $1,157.40 plus 32% × $4,714 = $1,508.48, a PIA of $2,665.80 (rounded down to the dime).

Rule figures that change each year (bend points, maximum taxable earnings, earnings-test limits and the COLA) were checked on ssa.gov on October 10, 2026; they change every January. Tax: up to 50% or 85% of benefits can be federally taxable once your combined income passes $25,000 single or $32,000 married filing jointly (these thresholds are not indexed). This is an estimate; your statement at ssa.gov/myaccount is the official figure. Benefits are paid in whole dollars, rounded down.