Social Security Break Even Calculator
Compare claiming at 62, full retirement age and 70, and see the age at which waiting pays off.
Your break-even age
With a $2,000 monthly benefit at full retirement age (67 years), waiting until 70 pays more in total than claiming at 62 if you live past age 80 years, 5 months.
Your numbers
Nothing you type leaves your browser. The default is an example, not a prediction.
What each claiming age pays
Age 62
$1,400 a month
70% of your full benefit, $16,800 a year before any increases.
Full retirement age (67 years)
$2,000 a month
100% of your full benefit, $24,000 a year before any increases.
Age 70
$2,480 a month
124% of your full benefit, $29,760 a year before any increases.
Break-even ages
The age after which the later claim has paid out at least as much in total as the earlier one.
- Age 62 versus full retirement age78 years, 8 months
- Full retirement age versus age 7082 years, 6 months
- Age 62 versus age 7080 years, 5 months
Total received by age
| Through age | Claim at 62 | Claim at 67 years | Claim at 70 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 70 | $134,400 | $72,000 | $0 |
| 75 | $218,400 | $192,000 | $148,800 |
| 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 |
The highest total in each row is in green. Before the claim month a column is zero.
How it is calculated
- Full retirement age comes from your birth year.
- Claiming before it cuts your full benefit by 5/9 of 1% a month for the first 36 months and 5/12 of 1% for each month beyond. The cut is rounded up to the next dime.
- Claiming after it adds 2/3 of 1% a month, 8% a year, up to age 70. The increase is rounded down to the dime, and each monthly benefit is rounded down to the whole dollar.
- Age 62 means benefits from the month you turn 62, as in SSA's charts. Unless you were born on the 1st or 2nd, your first possible month is the month after you turn 62 (20 CFR 404.311).
- Totals add the monthly payments from the claim month. Optionally, every amount grows by your yearly increase from age 62.
- The break-even age is the first month where the later claim's running total reaches the earlier one's. This step is our arithmetic, not an SSA figure.
Sources, read on October 27, 2026:
- 20 CFR 404.410, How does SSA reduce my benefits when my entitlement begins before full retirement age?Quote: “5/9 of 1 percent for each of the first 36 months and 5/12 of 1 percent for each month in excess of 36”. The early-claim reduction, and rounding the reduction up to the next dime. The regulation’s own example (a $980.50 benefit claimed 44 months early) is one of our tests.
- 20 CFR 404.313, What are delayed retirement credits and how do they increase my old-age benefit amount?Quote: “After 1/1/1943 2/3 of 1%”. The credit for each month you delay past full retirement age, which is 8% a year, rounded down to the next dime. Credits end with the month you attain age 70.
- 20 CFR 404.304, What are the general rules on benefit amounts?Quote: “we reduce any monthly benefit that is not a multiple of $1 to the next lower multiple of $1”. Each monthly benefit is rounded down to a whole dollar.
- 20 CFR 404.409, What is full retirement age?Quote: “1/2/1960 and later 67 years”. Full retirement age by birth year, from 66 years for 1943 to 1954 up to 67 years for 1960 and later.
Not modeled: a first payable month later than the month you turn 62, taxes on benefits, the earnings test while you work, spousal and survivor benefits, Medicare premiums, payments that arrive a month late, and any change to the law. Your actual benefit comes from the Social Security Administration.
Social Security break-even questions
What is the break-even age for claiming Social Security at 62 versus 70?
It depends on your benefit and full retirement age. With $2,000 a month at full retirement age (67 years), claiming at 62 pays $1,400 a month and claiming at 70 pays $2,480. Waiting until 70 has paid out more in total once you pass 80 years, 5 months. The calculator above runs the same arithmetic on your numbers.
How much is my Social Security reduced if I claim at 62?
The reduction is 5/9 of 1% for each of the first 36 months before full retirement age and 5/12 of 1% for each month beyond that (20 CFR 404.410). With a full retirement age of 67 years that is 60 months, a 30% cut. With a full retirement age of 66 years it is 48 months, a 25% cut.
How much more do I get by waiting until 70?
For anyone born after January 1, 1943, each month past full retirement age adds 2/3 of 1%, which is 8% a year, until age 70 (20 CFR 404.313). From a full retirement age of 67 years that is 36 months and a 24% increase, so $2,000 becomes $2,480 a month. Nothing is added after 70.
Does a cost-of-living adjustment change the break-even age?
It can. The calculator lets you assume a yearly increase and applies it to every claiming age alike. That is your assumption, not an SSA figure. In the same example, assuming 2% a year moves the 62 versus 70 break-even from 80 years, 5 months to 78 years, 10 months.
What is my full retirement age?
66 years if you were born from 1943 to 1954, rising by 2 months a year for 1955 to 1959 (66 years, 2 months for 1955 up to 66 years, 10 months for 1959), and 67 years if you were born in 1960 or later. The regulation counts people born on January 1 in the previous year.
Is the break-even age a reason to claim early or late?
It is one number, not a recommendation. It compares the money received from one person’s own benefit. It does not model taxes on benefits, working while you claim, a spouse’s or survivor’s benefit, Medicare premiums or what you could earn by investing the early payments. Check your own statement and the SSA’s tools, and talk to a licensed adviser for a decision.
The examples above use a $2,000 benefit at full retirement age and a 1965 birth year.
Plan the rest of retirement
- Retirement savings calculator: How much your own savings and contributions grow before retirement.
- Coast FIRE calculator: The savings you need today to stop contributing and still retire on time.
- FIRE calculator: The year your savings rate, spending and return let you retire early.
This calculator is an educational tool, not personal advice. It applies the published reduction and credit rules to the numbers you enter and does not know your full situation. Your actual benefit comes from the Social Security Administration. Rules last checked October 27, 2026.