Social Security Benefits Calculator
✦ Finance & MoneyUse this Social Security calculator to estimate how much Social Security you will get at 62, your full retirement age or 70, from your earnings and the 2026 SSA formula — in today’s dollars, with the spousal benefit and break-even ages.
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- ✓ No sign-up required
- ✓ Formula and sources shown
The formula
AIME → PIA through the 2026 bend points → monthly benefit by claiming age
\text{AIME} = \left\lfloor \frac{\sum \text{top-35 indexed earnings}}{420} \right\rfloor \quad\Rightarrow\quad \text{PIA} = 0.90 \times \min(\text{AIME}, 1{,}286) + 0.32 \times \max(0, \min(\text{AIME}-1{,}286,\ 6{,}463)) + 0.15 \times \max(0, \text{AIME}-7{,}749)AIME is the average of your 35 highest years of earnings, each indexed to the national average wage and rounded down to the dollar. The PIA is your benefit at full retirement age, rounded down to the dime, using the bend points of the year you turn 62 (2026: $1,286 and $7,749). Claiming early reduces it by 5/9 of 1% a month for 36 months and 5/12 of 1% beyond; waiting adds 2/3 of 1% a month to 70. Simple mode works in today’s dollars, like the SSA statement; the statement is the authoritative figure.
Calculating it by hand
- Enter your birth year; the page looks up your full retirement age (FRA) from the SSA table.
- Enter your current annual earnings and the years you have worked so far, and say whether you will keep earning until you claim (the SSA statement assumes you do).
- Set a claiming age from 62 to 70 — decimals work for months, so 66.5 is 66 and 6 months.
- Read the monthly benefit at that age, the PIA and AIME behind it, the amounts at 62 and 70, the spousal benefit and the break-even ages.
- Switch to Advanced to type your actual year-by-year earnings from your Social Security statement; each year is indexed with the average wage index.
- Open the full table for every claiming age, or download it as CSV.
Worked examples
Born 1979, $65,000 a year, 25 years worked so far, keeps working, claims at 67 (the page defaults)
Years counted: 25 so far + 20 more to the claiming year (1979 + 67 = 2046, from 2026) = 45, capped at 35.AIME = $65,000 × 35 ÷ 420 = $5,416.67, rounded down to $5,416.PIA = 90% × $1,286 + 32% × ($5,416 − $1,286) = $1,157.40 + $1,321.60 = $2,479.00.Full retirement age for 1979 is 67, so the benefit at 67 is the PIA: $2,479 a month, $29,748 a year, in today’s dollars.At 62 (60 months early, 30% off): $1,735. At 70 (36 months of credit, +24%): $3,073. Spousal benefit at the spouse’s FRA: $1,239; at 62: $805.
Monthly benefit at 67: $2,479 | $1,735 at 62 | $3,073 at 70 | break-even 62 vs 67 at 78 yrs 8 mo
Born 1964, $110,000 a year, 40 years worked, claims at 62
Full retirement age for 1964 is 67. Years counted: 40, capped at 35.AIME = $110,000 × 35 ÷ 420 = $9,166.67 → $9,166.PIA = 90% × $1,286 ($1,157.40) + 32% × $6,463 ($2,068.16) + 15% × ($9,166 − $7,749 = $1,417) ($212.55) = $3,438.11 → $3,438.10.Claiming at 62 is 60 months early: 30% reduction. $3,438.10 × 0.70 = $2,406.67, paid as $2,406.At full retirement age the same record pays $3,438; at 70 it pays $3,438.10 × 1.24 = $4,263.
Monthly benefit at 62: $2,406 (30% below the $3,438 PIA) | $4,263 at 70
Born 1958, $40,000 a year for 35 years, claims at 70
Full retirement age for 1958 is 66 and 8 months, so 70 is 40 months after it.AIME = $40,000 × 35 ÷ 420 = $3,333.33 → $3,333.PIA = $1,157.40 + 32% × ($3,333 − $1,286) = $1,157.40 + $655.04 = $1,812.44 → $1,812.40.Delayed credit: 40 × 2/3% = 26.67%. $1,812.40 × 1.2667 = $2,295.71, paid as $2,295.For comparison, at 62 (56 months early: 20% + 20 × 5/12% = 28.33% off) the benefit would be $1,298.
Monthly benefit at 70: $2,295 (+26.7% on the $1,812 PIA) | $1,298 at 62
Methodology
How Social Security calculates your benefit
The benefit at 62 and the benefit at 70 can be 77% apart for the same person. That gap comes from the reduction and delayed-credit factors, not from your earnings — and the earnings themselves are averaged over 35 years, so every zero year counts.
Read sources and limitsWhat does a Social Security calculator work out?
A Social Security calculator works out your estimated monthly retirement benefit from your earnings history and claiming age. It averages your 35 highest years of wage-indexed earnings into the AIME, runs that through the three-bracket PIA formula, then applies SSA’s reduction for claiming before full retirement age or the credit for claiming after it.
This page does exactly that with the published 2026 figures: bend points of $1,286 and $7,749, a wage base of $184,500 and the full retirement age table by birth year. Simple mode assumes a flat earnings history at your current pay, in today’s dollars; Advanced mode takes the actual year-by-year figures from your Social Security statement.
How are the AIME and the 35 highest years calculated?
Social Security does not use your last paycheck. It takes every year you paid Social Security tax, indexes each year’s earnings to the national average wage of the year you turn 60 (so $20,000 earned in 1990 is scaled up to today’s wage level), picks the 35 highest indexed years, adds them up and divides by 420 months.
The result, rounded down to the dollar, is the Average Indexed Monthly Earnings. If you worked fewer than 35 years, the missing years count as zero and pull the average down dollar for dollar. Working one more year and replacing a zero (or a low year) raises the average. Earnings above each year’s taxable maximum ($51,300 in 1990, $184,500 in 2026) were not taxed and do not count; Advanced mode caps every year you enter at that year’s figure before indexing it.
Simple mode on this page assumes the same pay in every year counted — your years so far plus, by default, every year until you claim, which is also what the SSA statement assumes. With 25 years worked at 47 and a claim at 67, that is 45 years, capped at the 35 that count. Choose “No — only the years worked so far” to see the benefit your record would pay if you stopped today.
How does the PIA formula work with the 2026 bend points?
The Primary Insurance Amount is the benefit you get for claiming exactly at full retirement age. For a worker who turns 62 in 2026 it is 90% of the first $1,286 of AIME, plus 32% of the AIME between $1,286 and $7,749, plus 15% of anything above $7,749, rounded down to the next lower dime.
The two dollar amounts are the bend points; they rise with the average wage index every year and are fixed for you at the year you turn 62, whenever you actually claim.
The formula is deliberately progressive: a $2,500 AIME replaces 62% of earnings while a $10,000 AIME replaces 35%. For an AIME of $5,416 (35 years at $65,000), the PIA is $1,157.40 + $1,321.60 = $2,479. The 2026 maximum benefit for a worker claiming at full retirement age is $4,152 a month, which needs earnings at or above the wage base for 35 years.
This page applies the 2026 bend points to everyone and works in today’s dollars without future cost-of-living adjustments; SSA uses the bend points of the year you turned 62 and adds every COLA since. If you are already past 62, your statement figure is the one to use.
What is the full retirement age by birth year?
Full retirement age is set by statute. It is 65 for births in 1937 or earlier, rises two months a year for 1938–1942, is 66 for 1943–1954, rises two months a year again from 1955 (66 and 2 months) to 1959 (66 and 10 months), and is 67 for 1960 or later.
Someone born on 1 January uses the previous year. You can claim as early as 62 and as late as 70. Claiming before full retirement age permanently reduces the monthly amount; claiming after it permanently increases it; nothing is added after 70. Medicare eligibility stays at 65 whatever your full retirement age.
How much does claiming at 62 or 70 change the monthly benefit?
The reduction is 5/9 of 1% for each of the first 36 months before full retirement age and 5/12 of 1% for each month beyond that. With an FRA of 67, claiming at 62 is 60 months early: 36 × 5/9% = 20% plus 24 × 5/12% = 10%, a 30% cut, so a $2,479 PIA pays $1,735.
With an FRA of 66 the cut is 25% (48 months); with 66 and 10 months it is 29.17%. The delayed retirement credit is 2/3 of 1% for each month after full retirement age up to 70 — 8% a year for anyone born in 1943 or later. Waiting from 67 to 70 adds 24%: $2,479 becomes $3,073 a month. Some credits earned in the year you claim are applied the following January.
Under average life expectancy the factors are designed to be roughly neutral: a smaller cheque for longer, or a larger cheque for less long, come to similar totals. Health, work, a spouse and other income change the answer for a given person; the claiming-age comparison on the Social Security optimizer page adds up the totals by age.
How is the spousal benefit calculated, and what about the earnings test?
A spouse can receive up to 50% of your PIA if that is more than their own benefit. Claimed early it is cut 25/36 of 1% a month for 36 months and 5/12 of 1% beyond: 32.5% of your PIA at 62 with an FRA of 67 ($805 on a $2,479 PIA), 35% with an FRA of 66.
Delayed credits do not apply to spousal benefits: waiting past full retirement age never lifts it above 50%. The earnings test applies if you claim before full retirement age and keep working. In 2026 SSA withholds $1 of benefits for every $2 you earn above $24,480; in the year you reach FRA the limit is $65,160 and the rate $1 for every $3, counting only the months before FRA. Withheld months are not lost: at FRA your benefit is recomputed as if you had claimed those months later.
The Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset, which reduced benefits for people with a pension from work not covered by Social Security, were repealed by the Social Security Fairness Act signed on 5 January 2025. Benefits are also paid before any Medicare premium deduction and before income tax, which can reach up to 85% of the benefit depending on your other income.
Social Security Benefits questions
How much Social Security will I get?
For 35 years of earnings at $65,000 and a full retirement age of 67, the 2026 formula gives $2,479 a month at 67, $1,735 at 62 and $3,073 at 70, in today’s dollars. Your own figure depends on your 35 highest indexed years and your claiming age: the AIME goes through 90%, 32% and 15% brackets at the $1,286 and $7,749 bend points. The authoritative number is on your my Social Security statement at ssa.gov/myaccount.
What is the full retirement age by birth year?
It is 65 for births in 1937 or earlier, then 65 and 2 months for 1938 rising two months a year to 65 and 10 months for 1942; 66 for 1943 to 1954; 66 and 2 months for 1955 rising to 66 and 10 months for 1959; and 67 for 1960 or later. Born in 1957, your FRA is 66 and 6 months; born 1 January, you use the previous year. The page reads the table from the SSA dataset.
What happens if I claim Social Security at 62?
The monthly amount is cut by 30% for life if your full retirement age is 67 (36 months at 5/9 of 1% plus 24 months at 5/12 of 1%), by 25% if it is 66, and by 29.17% if it is 66 and 10 months. A $2,479 benefit at 67 becomes $1,735 at 62. The cut does not reverse at FRA. If you keep working, the earnings test can also withhold benefits until FRA.
What are the Social Security bend points for 2026?
$1,286 and $7,749 a month of AIME. They are the 1979 bend points ($180 and $1,085) scaled by the growth in the national average wage index, 69,846.57 for 2024 against 9,779.44 for 1977. They apply to workers who turn 62 in 2026; someone who turned 62 in 2024 keeps the 2024 bend points ($1,174 and $7,078) and receives every cost-of-living adjustment since. The 2027 bend points, already published, are $1,340 and $8,077.
How much is the Social Security spousal benefit?
Up to 50% of the worker’s PIA at the spouse’s own full retirement age — $1,239 on a $2,479 PIA. Claimed at 62 with an FRA of 67 it is reduced by 35% (25/36 of 1% a month for 36 months, 5/12 of 1% beyond) to 32.5% of the PIA, $805; with an FRA of 66 the floor is 35%. Waiting past FRA does not increase a spousal benefit, and a spouse receives the larger of their own benefit and the spousal amount, not both.
What is the Social Security earnings test limit for 2026?
$24,480 a year ($2,040 a month) if you are under full retirement age all year: SSA withholds $1 of benefits for every $2 earned above it. In the year you reach FRA the limit is $65,160 ($5,430 a month) and the rate is $1 for every $3, counting only earnings in the months before FRA. From the month you reach FRA there is no limit, and withheld months are credited back as a higher monthly benefit.
What is the maximum Social Security benefit in 2026?
$4,152 a month for a worker who claims at full retirement age in 2026, per the SSA fact sheet. Reaching it takes 35 years of earnings at or above the taxable maximum ($184,500 in 2026). Claiming at 70 instead adds 24% for an FRA of 67, and the 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment for 2026 applies to benefits already in payment, not to the formula.
Does Social Security use my last 5 years of earnings?
No. It uses your 35 highest years of wage-indexed earnings, from any point in your career, divided by 420 months. Later years are not weighted more than earlier ones once indexing has scaled older wages up to today’s level. A high final salary helps only by replacing a lower or zero year among the 35.
Do earnings above the Social Security wage base count toward my benefit?
No. Each year counts only up to that year’s taxable maximum, the contribution and benefit base SSA publishes for every year: $51,300 for 1990, $106,800 for 2009 to 2011, $184,500 for 2026. For a worker born in 1964, $100,000 earned in 1990 counts as $51,300, which indexes to about $170,398 at 2024 wages, not the $332,160 the full amount would index to. Advanced mode applies each year’s own cap before indexing.
Did the Social Security Fairness Act change my benefit?
If you also receive a pension from work that did not pay into Social Security, possibly yes. The Act, signed 5 January 2025, repealed the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset, which reduced retirement, spousal and survivor benefits for such workers. SSA recalculates affected benefits and pays the increase back to January 2024; this page does not apply either provision.
Is this Social Security estimate accurate?
It applies the published 2026 formula exactly, but to a simplified earnings history: Simple mode assumes the same pay in every year counted, and both modes use the 2026 bend points in today’s dollars without future COLAs — the same convention as the SSA statement. The statement, built from your actual record, is the authoritative figure; Advanced mode lets you enter that record year by year to get closer.
Source notes
Method, sources & limitations
Every figure on this page comes from the formula above applied to the values you enter. Nothing is estimated from market data, and no result is a forecast. These are the sources behind the method and any fixed figures it uses:
- SSA OACT — Primary Insurance Amount formula and bend points (2026: $1,286 / $7,749)
- SSA OACT — Benefit calculation examples (AIME and PIA)
- SSA OACT — Normal retirement age, actuarial reduction and delayed retirement credit by year of birth
- SSA OACT — Benefits for spouses (the spousal reduction factors)
- SSA — 2026 Social Security changes fact sheet (COLA, wage base, earnings test, maximum benefit)
- SSA OACT — National average wage index series
- SSA OACT — Contribution and benefit base by year (the taxable maximum, 1937–2026)
- SSA — Social Security Fairness Act (WEP and GPO repeal)
Educational information only. Results are estimates produced from the assumptions you enter, and are not financial, tax, legal or medical advice. Check anything that matters against a qualified professional and the cited sources.