Social Security Benefits Calculator Estimate Your Retirement Benefit at Every Claiming Age

Full retirement age (FRA) is the age when you qualify for 100% of your Social Security benefit — 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later.

FRA ranges from 65 to 67 depending on your birth year. You can claim as early as 62 with a permanently reduced benefit, or delay until 70 to receive a larger monthly payment through delayed retirement credits.

Source: SSA — Full Retirement Age

If your full retirement age is 67, claiming Social Security at 62 permanently reduces your monthly benefit by about 30%.

The reduction is 5/9 of 1% per month for the first 36 months before FRA, and 5/12 of 1% for each additional month beyond 36. This reduction is permanent — it does not go away when you reach full retirement age.

Source: SSA — Effect of Early Retirement on Benefits

Delayed retirement credits increase your Social Security benefit by 8% per year for each year you wait past your full retirement age, up to age 70.

The credit accrues at 2/3 of 1% per month. For example, if your FRA is 67 and you wait until 70, your monthly benefit will be 24% higher than your FRA amount. There is no additional credit for delaying past 70.

Source: SSA — Delayed Retirement Credits

AIME (Average Indexed Monthly Earnings) is the average of your 35 highest-earning years, adjusted for inflation, divided by 12 months. It is the starting input for your benefit calculation.

You can find your AIME on your Social Security statement, available through your my Social Security account at ssa.gov. If you don't have it, our calculator can estimate it from your current salary and years worked.

Source: SSA — Benefit Formula & Bend Points

If you enter your AIME directly from your SSA statement, the results use the same PIA formula the SSA uses and should closely match official estimates.

If you use the salary-based estimate, the calculator builds a year-by-year earnings history using SSA wage indexing, which produces a close approximation. For an exact match, create an account at ssa.gov/myaccount and enter your real AIME.

When you enter your salary and years worked, the calculator builds an estimated earnings history for your entire career. Here’s what happens step by step:

• Earnings are scaled back in time. Your current salary is adjusted year by year using the SSA’s National Average Wage Index (AWI) — the same published data SSA uses.
• An earnings history adjustment is applied. The “Earnings History” setting reflects how representative your current salary is of your full career. The default (“Typical”, 2%) matches the SSA’s own Quick Calculator: most people earn more today than their career average, so early-career wages are estimated proportionally lower. If your pay has been near today’s level throughout your career — common in teaching or government — choose “Consistent”.
• Each year is capped at the taxable limit. Earnings above that year’s Social Security taxable maximum are excluded — just as the SSA does.
• Your best 35 years are averaged. The 35 highest-earning years are summed and divided by 420 months to produce AIME. If you’ve worked fewer than 35 years, the missing years count as $0 — which lowers your average.

The result is a close approximation of your actual AIME. For the most precise figure, enter your real AIME from your SSA statement.

No — your current salary is just a starting point, not a flat assumption. The calculator applies two layers of adjustment to estimate what you likely earned in each past year.

• National wage growth is applied. The SSA’s published National Average Wage Index scales your salary backward year by year. If the national average was ~40% lower in 2000, your estimated year-2000 earnings are proportionally lower too.
• An earnings history setting fine-tunes it further. The “Typical” default (2%) reflects that most people earn more today than their career average — the same assumption the SSA’s own Quick Calculator uses. Early-career earnings are estimated lower as a result. If your salary has been near today’s level for most of your career, choose “Consistent” for a higher estimate.
• Only your best 35 years count. The calculator picks your 35 highest-earning years — the same method the SSA uses to compute your actual benefit.

For the most precise result, enter your actual AIME from your SSA statement.

The spouse option shows each person's own earned benefit and the lower earner's potential spousal benefit (up to 50% of the higher earner's PIA) side by side at every claiming age, with a recommendation for which record pays more at each age.

One important rule the calculator highlights: spousal benefits stop growing at the lower earner's full retirement age — unlike their own benefit, which keeps increasing to 70. If the spousal benefit is always higher, there's no reason to wait past FRA to claim it. Note that the primary earner must be receiving their own benefit before the spouse can collect a spousal benefit, and other eligibility rules apply. For a full picture including survivor benefits, use the official SSA Retirement Estimator.