Free Social Security tool
Should you claim at 62, wait until 67 or hold out until 70? Enter your estimated benefit to see your monthly check at every age from 62 to 70, your estimated lifetime total and the age when waiting starts to pay off.
Free and takes about 30 seconds. Nothing you enter is saved or sent anywhere.
Free tool
Not sure? Find your estimate in your free my Social Security account.
Plan for income to age
Claim at 67
$2,000 a month
100% of your full retirement age benefit, for life
Estimated total to age 90
$552,000
Compared with claiming at 62
+$81,600
Break-even age: 78 years, 8 months
Estimated lifetime benefits by claiming age
If you live to 90, claiming at 70 pays the most in this example.
This is the simple version, for one person. Your real answer also depends on your spouse, survivor benefits, taxes and Medicare premiums. The free 2026 guide walks you through all of it, with a worksheet for your own numbers.
Get the Free Claiming GuideOr book a free personalized reviewHypothetical example for education only. Uses Social Security rules for people born in 1960 or later (full retirement age 67), whole-year claiming ages and today’s dollars, with no cost-of-living increases, taxes, earnings limits or spousal benefits. It is not a prediction of your benefits.
How to read your results
Claim at 62 and your check is permanently reduced to about 70 percent of your full retirement age amount. Wait until 70 and it grows to about 124 percent, for life.
Your monthly check times the years you collect, up to the age you plan for. Change the “plan for income to age” buttons to see how the best claiming age can shift.
The age when the bigger checks from waiting catch up with the head start from claiming at 62. If you live past it, waiting may pay you more in total.
Break-even basics
Short answer: the break-even age is the age when the total benefits from claiming later catch up with the total from claiming earlier. In this calculator, waiting from 62 to 67 breaks even at about 78 and a half, and waiting from 62 to 70 breaks even a little past 80.
Claiming early gives you a head start: more checks, but smaller ones. Waiting gives you fewer checks, but bigger ones, for the rest of your life. Every month you collect the bigger check, you close the gap a little more. The break-even age is the point where the gap closes.
| Comparison | Monthly check on a $2,000 benefit | Break-even age |
|---|---|---|
| 62 vs. 67 | $1,400 vs. $2,000 | About 78 years, 8 months |
| 62 vs. 70 | $1,400 vs. $2,480 | About 80 years, 4 months |
| 67 vs. 70 | $2,000 vs. $2,480 | About 82 years, 6 months |
In this simple model the break-even ages stay the same no matter how large your benefit is, because every claiming age is a fixed percentage of the same full retirement age amount.
| If you live to | Claim at 62 | Claim at 67 | Claim at 70 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 80 | $302,400 | $312,000 | $297,600 |
| 85 | $386,400 | $432,000 | $446,400 |
| 90 | $470,400 | $552,000 | $595,200 |
| 95 | $554,400 | $672,000 | $744,000 |
Hypothetical example for education only, in today’s dollars with no cost-of-living increases or taxes. The highest total in each row is in bold.
Look past the break-even point
Many people claim early because they are not sure they will reach their break-even age. That is understandable, but it treats Social Security like a bet you are trying to win. It works more like insurance against a long life.
According to the Social Security Administration, about one in three 65-year-olds today will live past 90, and about one in seven will live past 95. If you live a long time, a larger check for life may matter far more than a head start. If you are married, the higher earner’s claiming age also sets the survivor benefit the other spouse may live on for many years.
So the better question is not only “When do I break even?” but also “Which choice would I regret more if I live to 95?”
What this calculator leaves out
These are only some of the factors that can shape your answer, and the right mix depends on your situation. Neither the firm nor its agents or representatives may give tax or legal advice.
See how we look at the whole picture: Social Security Optimization →
Free 2026 guide
Your $100,000 Social Security Decision is a free 24-page guide with the claiming age chart, the break-even trap, a 10-point scorecard and a worksheet for your own numbers.
Questions
It is the age when the total benefits from a later claim catch up with the total from an earlier claim. Using Social Security’s reduction and delayed credit rules for people born in 1960 or later, waiting from 62 to 67 breaks even at about age 78 and a half, and waiting from 62 to 70 breaks even a little past age 80. Taxes, cost-of-living increases and spousal benefits can move these ages.
It depends on your health, your other income, taxes and whether you are married. Claiming at 62 pays about 70 percent of your full retirement age benefit for life, while waiting until 70 pays about 124 percent. If you live past your early 80s, waiting may pay more in total. Claiming early can still make sense in some situations, such as poor health or no other income to bridge the gap.
For people born in 1960 or later, each year you wait past 67 adds 8 percent in delayed retirement credits, up to age 70. Claiming before 67 lowers your check by about 6.7 percent a year for the first three years early and 5 percent a year before that, so claiming at 62 pays about 70 percent.
Log in to your free my Social Security account at ssa.gov. Your statement shows your estimated monthly benefit at 62, at full retirement age and at 70. Enter the full retirement age amount in the calculator.
No. It shows the numbers for one person so the trade-off is easy to see. For married couples, the higher earner’s claiming age also sets the survivor benefit, which can change the best answer. A free Social Security review can look at both of you together.
It is a hypothetical example for education, not a prediction of your benefits. It uses whole-year claiming ages and today’s dollars, with no cost-of-living increases, taxes or earnings limits. Your actual benefits depend on your earnings record and the Social Security rules in place when you file.
Keep learning
A free Social Security review looks at you and your spouse together, with taxes, Medicare and your other savings, in person in Orlando or by video nationwide.
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