Social Security Benefit Estimator
Estimate your monthly Social Security benefit based on your average earnings, claiming age, and full retirement age — and compare early vs delayed claiming.
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How to use this calculator
- 1
Enter your AIME (Average Indexed Monthly Earnings) as shown on your Social Security statement. The tool does not calculate AIME from an earnings history.
- 2
Select the birth-year group that sets your full retirement age (FRA).
- 3
Enter a claiming age between 62 and 70. Decimals such as 63.5 are accepted.
- 4
Compare the chosen-age benefit with the 62 and 70 lines. The tool shows the numbers only and does not rank the ages.
Frequently asked questions
How does this tool turn AIME into a benefit?
This tool applies three bend points to your AIME to get the primary insurance amount (PIA): 90% of the first $1,286, 32% of the amount between $1,286 and $7,749, and 15% of anything above $7,749. Those bend points are the ones SSA published for people first eligible in 2026, and they are labelled 2026 in the code. The PIA is the benefit at full retirement age, and the tool then adjusts it for the claiming age you enter.
How is the claiming-age adjustment calculated?
Before full retirement age, the tool reduces the benefit by 5/9 of 1% per month for up to 36 months and 5/12 of 1% for each additional month. After full retirement age it adds 2/3 of 1% per month, up to age 70, and nothing further after that. These are the rates built into the tool. Claiming at 62 with a full retirement age of 67 reduces the benefit by 30.0%.
How is full retirement age chosen?
From the birth-year list: 66 for 1943 to 1954, then 66 plus 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 months for 1955 to 1959, and 67 for 1960 or later. Anyone born before 1943 is outside the options. The result line shows the age in years and months.
Can I just enter my average annual earnings divided by 12?
You can type any number, but it is not the same as AIME. SSA indexes earnings and averages the highest 35 years, which a simple average does not reproduce. The tool applies the formula to whatever figure you provide, so use the number from your statement for a meaningful result.
What happens with unusual inputs?
An AIME of zero or less returns $0. A claiming age below 62 shows an error saying the earliest claiming age is 62, and one above 70 shows that delayed credits stop at 70. A claiming age of 0, which is what an emptied box becomes, shows the same earliest-age error. The benefit is not rounded to the nearest dime as SSA does.
What does the estimate leave out?
Cost-of-living adjustments, income tax on benefits, the earnings test for people who work before full retirement age, spousal, survivor and disability benefits, Medicare premiums deducted from payments, and future changes to the formula are all outside the tool. Results are in the dollars of the formula year.
Are the bend points and ages up to date?
The bend points are labelled 2026 (for people first eligible in 2026) and the tool does not update them automatically. US figures change every year and SSA, which governs, publishes the current values, so use the output to see how the formula behaves and rely on SSA, or a qualified adviser, for your actual figure.
Social Security estimates: PIA, bend points and claiming-age adjustments
From AIME to PIA
The tool takes the AIME you enter and applies the bend-point formula built into it: 90% of the first $1,286, 32% of the next slice up to $7,749, and 15% beyond. The sum is the primary insurance amount, the monthly benefit at full retirement age. Because the lowest slice is replaced at the highest percentage, benefits rise less than proportionally with earnings. The tool then compares your claiming age with your full retirement age, applies the early reduction or delayed credit, and also shows what the benefit would be at 62 and at 70 for your birth-year group.
Worked examples
An AIME of $5,000 with a full retirement age of 67 gives a PIA of $2,346. Claimed at 62, the monthly benefit is $1,642, which is 30.0% below the PIA; claimed at 70 it is $2,909, which is 24.0% above. An AIME of $3,000 claimed at 62 for the same birth group gives $1,194 a month against a PIA of $1,706. For someone born in 1957, whose full retirement age is 66 years 6 months, an AIME of $8,000 gives a PIA of $3,263, and claiming at 70 shows $4,177, or 28.0% more.
One AIME across four ages
The table keeps the AIME at $5,000 and the full retirement age at 67 and changes only the claiming age, so each row is the same PIA scaled by the adjustment. Each month of delay adds less in the early part of the range than close to 67, because the tool uses the smaller 5/12% reduction for months more than 36 before full retirement age.
| Claiming age | Monthly benefit | Versus the PIA of $2,346 |
|---|---|---|
| 62 | $1,642 | -30.0% |
| 65 | $2,033 | -13.3% |
| 67 | $2,346 | +0.0% |
| 70 | $2,909 | +24.0% |
How the adjustments are coded
For a full retirement age of 67, claiming at 62 is 60 months early: the first 36 months cost 5/9 of 1% each (20%) and the remaining 24 cost 5/12 of 1% each (10%), giving the 30.0% reduction in the table. Delaying from 67 to 70 is 36 months at 2/3 of 1%, which is the 24.0% increase. For the 1957 example the gap from 66 years 6 months to 70 is 42 months, which gives 28.0%. Credits stop at 70, so entering a higher age returns an error rather than a larger number.
What this estimate leaves out
The calculation is a formula applied to the AIME you supply, using bend points that are fixed values labelled 2026 and are revised every year by SSA; the tool’s tables are not updated automatically. It ignores cost-of-living increases, tax on benefits, the earnings test, spousal and survivor benefits and Medicare deductions. It also does not compare lifetime totals or suggest a claiming age; those depend on health, other income and household circumstances that the tool cannot see. Your SSA statement and a qualified adviser are the places to get a personal figure.
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Results are estimates for informational purposes only and do not constitute professional financial, medical, legal, or technical advice. Read full disclaimer →