Social Security Calculator

Estimate your Social Security benefit using the SSA bend point formula and see breakeven ages.

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Current Age

Planned Retirement Age

Range: 62 (early) to 70 (maximum delayed)

Current Annual Earnings

Years Worked So Far

Average Annual Earnings History

Average over your career to date

Monthly Benefit at Chosen Age

at age 67 (FRA)

At Age 62 (Early)

30% reduction from FRA

At Age 67 (FRA)

Full Retirement Age benefit

At Age 70 (Delayed)

+24% from FRA

Estimated AIME

Avg Indexed Monthly Earnings

Claim Age	Monthly Benefit	Annual Benefit	Cumulative at 80	Cumulative at 85

Estimate your monthly Social Security benefit at early, full, and delayed retirement ages using the SSA's bend-point benefit formula applied to your projected career earnings.

How It Works

How Social Security Calculator Works

The calculator estimates your Average Indexed Monthly Earnings (AIME) by combining your entered average past earnings over the years you've already worked with your current earnings projected forward to your planned retirement age, capped at the 35 years the SSA uses in its actual calculation, then dividing by 12.

That AIME is run through the SSA's Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) bend-point formula: 90% of AIME up to the first bend point ($1,174), plus 32% of AIME between that and the second bend point ($7,078), plus 15% of any AIME above $7,078 — these are the 2024 bend-point figures used in the calculation. The result is your benefit at full retirement age (FRA), set here to 67.

Claiming before FRA reduces the benefit — 5/9 of 1% per month for the first 36 months early, then 5/12 of 1% per month for any additional months down to age 62. Claiming after FRA increases it by 8% per year (2/3 of 1% per month) up to age 70, reflecting delayed retirement credits.

Worked Example

See It In Action

At age 45, earning $75,000 now, with 20 years already worked at a $65,000 average and a planned retirement at 67, the calculator projects 22 more working years, capped at the SSA's 35-year window, for total career earnings of about $2,950,000 — an AIME of roughly $7,023.81. Run through the bend-point formula, that produces a full-retirement-age benefit of about $2,928.54/month. Claiming at 62 instead cuts it by 30% to about $2,049.98/month, while waiting until 70 raises it by 24% to about $3,631.39/month.

Real-World Use Cases

Who Uses Social Security Calculator and Why

Estimating your monthly Social Security benefit at early (62), full, and delayed (up to 70) retirement ages.
Understanding how much claiming benefits early permanently reduces your monthly payment compared to waiting for full retirement age.
Seeing the value of delayed retirement credits if you wait past full retirement age up to age 70.
Projecting your Average Indexed Monthly Earnings (AIME) from a mix of past and future projected earnings.

Common Mistakes

Mistakes to Avoid

Treating the result as your official SSA benefit figure — it projects an estimate from the average past and current earnings you enter, not your real, indexed SSA earnings history; the official estimate is available at ssa.gov.
Assuming delayed retirement credits keep accruing past age 70 — they stop accruing at 70, so there's no additional benefit modeled for waiting beyond that age.
Forgetting the calculator caps your working years at the SSA's actual 35-year window when projecting your career-average earnings — entering many more working years than that won't further raise the AIME used in the formula.

Pro Tips

Tips for Best Results

If you're deciding when to claim, compare all three ages (62, full retirement age, and 70) side by side rather than looking at just one, since the percentage differences are fixed by the built-in reduction and credit rules.
Use your official Social Security Statement figures from ssa.gov as a sanity check against this estimate rather than relying on this tool alone for retirement planning decisions.

Troubleshooting

Fixing Common Problems

My estimate doesn't match my official Social Security Statement. — This is expected — this calculator projects an estimate from the average past and current earnings you manually enter, not your actual indexed SSA earnings record; check your official Social Security Statement at ssa.gov for the precise figure.

Glossary

Terms Explained

Bend points: Earnings thresholds in the SSA benefit formula where the replacement rate steps down from 90% to 32% to 15%, so lower earners get a proportionally higher benefit.

AIME (Average Indexed Monthly Earnings): Your career-average monthly earnings figure, capped at a 35-year window, used as the input to the Social Security benefit formula.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

What are SSA "bend points"?

Bend points are the earnings thresholds where the Social Security benefit formula's replacement rate steps down — from 90% to 32% to 15% — so lower lifetime earnings are replaced at a much higher percentage than higher earnings. This calculator uses the 2024 bend-point values of $1,174 and $7,078.

How much less will I get if I claim at 62 instead of full retirement age?

Claiming at the earliest age of 62, a full five years before an FRA of 67, reduces the benefit by 30% under the formula used here — a permanent reduction that applies for the rest of your life.

How much more do I get by waiting until 70?

Delaying past full retirement age adds 8% per year in delayed retirement credits, so waiting the full three years from 67 to 70 increases the benefit by 24%. Credits stop accruing at age 70, so there's no additional benefit to waiting past that age.

Does this use my actual SSA earnings record?

No — it projects an estimate from the average past and current earnings figures you enter, not your real, indexed SSA earnings history. For your official estimate, check your Social Security Statement at ssa.gov.

What is AIME and PIA?

AIME (Average Indexed Monthly Earnings) is your career-average monthly earnings figure used as the input to the benefit formula. PIA (Primary Insurance Amount) is the resulting monthly benefit at full retirement age, before any early or delayed adjustment is applied.