You can start Social Security retirement benefits at any age from 62 to 70. Start early and every check is smaller; wait and every check is larger, for the rest of your life. The question is whether the bigger checks make up for the ones you didn't take while you waited.
Full retirement age
Your benefit is calculated for your full retirement age, which depends on the year you were born. It is 66 for people born from 1943 to 1954, rises by two months a year for those born 1955 to 1959, and is 67 for everyone born in 1960 or later.
How claiming early or late changes the check
Social Security adjusts your benefit by the month:
- Before full retirement age, it is reduced by 5/9 of 1% for each of the first 36 months early, and 5/12 of 1% for each month beyond that.
- After full retirement age, it grows by 2/3 of 1% a month (8% a year) in delayed retirement credits, until 70. Waiting past 70 adds nothing.
For someone whose full retirement age is 67, that works out to:
| Claim at | Share of the full benefit |
|---|---|
| 62 | 70% |
| 63 | 75% |
| 64 | 80% |
| 65 | 86.7% |
| 66 | 93.3% |
| 67 | 100% |
| 68 | 108% |
| 69 | 116% |
| 70 | 124% |
Claiming at 62 is 60 months early: 36 months at 5/9 of 1% is 20%, and 24 more at 5/12 of 1% is another 10%, so the check is 30% smaller. Waiting to 70 is 36 months of credits at 2/3 of 1%: 24% larger.
The break-even ages
Take someone with a full retirement age of 67 and a benefit of $2,000 a month at that age. The choices are $1,400 at 62, $2,000 at 67 or $2,480 at 70.
62 against 67. Claiming at 62 collects $1,400 for the 60 months before 67: $84,000. From 67 on, waiting pays $600 a month more. It takes 140 months, about 11 years and 8 months, for the larger checks to make up the $84,000. The break-even is around age 78 and 8 months.
67 against 70. Claiming at 67 collects $2,000 for 36 months: $72,000. From 70, waiting pays $480 a month more, which takes 150 months to make up. The break-even is age 82 and a half.
62 against 70. The head start is 96 months at $1,400, or $134,400. The difference after 70 is $1,080 a month, so the break-even is around age 80 and 4 months.
Cost-of-living adjustments raise all the checks by the same percentage, so they don't move these ages in today's dollars. If you live past the break-even, waiting paid off; if you don't, claiming earlier did.
What the break-even leaves out
How long you'll live. Break-even math is a bet on longevity. Social Security's life expectancy calculator gives the average for your birth date and sex; your own health and family history may say more.
A spouse. For a married couple, the surviving spouse can generally receive the larger of the two benefits (survivor benefits). So waiting raises the higher earner's benefit for as long as either of you lives, which often makes waiting worth more than one person's break-even suggests.
Taxes and investments. Up to 85% of benefits can be taxable, depending on your other income (IRS Publication 915). And money you don't draw from savings while you wait stays invested. Both change the math, in directions that depend on your plan.
Working before full retirement age. If you claim early and keep working, Social Security may hold back part of your benefits when your earnings pass a yearly limit. Its page on receiving benefits while working explains how.
Needing the money. If waiting means drawing down savings you can't afford to lose, or the benefit is what pays the bills, the break-even age matters less than the cash.
Try it
The Social Security claiming age calculator shows your benefit at every age from 62 to 70 and the break-even ages for your own numbers. The retirement calculator shows what each claiming age does to your whole plan, taxes included.