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Social Security Claiming Age Calculator
Compare what claiming at 62, 67, and 70 actually means in dollars, see the age at which delaying pays off, and get a rough sense of how cost-of-living increases and taxes affect the benefit over time.
Your info
Used to determine your full retirement age — it's not a fixed age like 65, it varies depending on when you were born.
Pre-filled with a placeholder estimate — replace it with the number from your own Social Security statement any time.
The age you're planning around — this drives the break-even chart below.
Used only to estimate how much of your benefit is taxable — see Benefit taxation below.
Compare claiming ages
Claim at 62
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Reduced for early claiming
Claim at 67
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Claim at 70
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Maximum delayed credit
Break-even visualization
Cost-of-living adjustment
COLA (cost-of-living adjustment) — an annual adjustment that raises your benefit to keep pace with inflation, so your purchasing power doesn't shrink over time. Applied every year in the break-even chart above.
Benefit taxation
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Benefit taxation — part of your Social Security benefit itself may count as taxable income, depending on your other earnings. This estimate factors in the "other annual income" you entered above, and is also reflected in the break-even chart's totals.
Spousal claiming strategy
Spousal claiming strategy — coordinates both spouses' claiming ages to maximize what the household receives overall, rather than optimizing each person's benefit on its own. Each spouse can claim either their own benefit, or up to 50% of their partner's full-retirement-age benefit, whichever is higher.
At your selected ages
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Household lifetime total, by claiming-age combination
Each cell is the combined household lifetime benefit through your assumed lifespan (with COLA, before tax) for that pair of claiming ages. The highlighted cell maximizes the household total.
Earnings limit for early claimers
Earnings limit — if you claim before full retirement age and keep working above the annual limit, part of your benefit is temporarily withheld ($1 for every $2 you earn over the limit). It isn't lost — you get it back gradually as a higher benefit once you reach full retirement age.
While you're working, before full retirement age
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From full retirement age onward
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Household income while the limit applies
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Uses your working-years benefit above, plus your spouse's benefit at their selected claiming age from the Spousal claiming strategy section.