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Social Security Break-Even Calculator: 62 vs 67 vs 70

Compare claiming Social Security at 62, full retirement age or 70: monthly benefit, lifetime totals and the age when waiting pays off.

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Good to know: Scope: your own US Social Security retirement benefit for people born in 1943 or later. You enter your monthly benefit at full retirement age (from your Social Security statement), and the tool applies the Social Security Administration’s rules: 5/9 of 1% less for each of the first 36 months you claim early and 5/12 of 1% for each month beyond that, or 2/3 of 1% more (8% a year) for each month you wait past full retirement age, up to age 70. Full retirement age is 66 for people born 1943 to 1954, rises by 2 months a year for 1955 to 1959, and is 67 from 1960. Amounts are rounded down to whole dollars, like SSA’s examples. The break-even age is when the bigger, later checks have added up to more than the smaller, earlier ones. Not included: spouse, survivor and disability benefits, the earnings test for working while you collect early, income tax on benefits, Medicare premiums, cost-of-living raises (they change both choices by the same percentage), investment returns and your own health and life expectancy. Everything stays in this browser tab; nothing is sent or saved. Independent ToolsKo estimate, not advice from SSA. Sources reviewed November 11, 2026.

How to use it (step by step)

  1. 1Pick your date of birth and type your monthly benefit at full retirement age. You can find it in your Social Security statement at ssa.gov/myaccount.
  2. 2Choose the two claiming ages you want to compare, for example 62 and 70, and the age you want to see totals for.
  3. 3Read the break-even age. If you expect to live past it, waiting usually pays more in total; if not, claiming earlier does. Check the monthly amounts and totals before you decide.

Words to know

Full retirement age
The age when you get 100% of your Social Security benefit. It is 66 to 67, depending on the year you were born.
Primary insurance amount
Your monthly benefit if you start exactly at full retirement age. Your Social Security statement shows it.
Delayed retirement credits
The raise you get for waiting past full retirement age: 8% a year for people born in 1943 or later, until age 70.
Break-even age
The age when the total from claiming later catches up with the total from claiming earlier.

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Sources & methods

References checked November 11, 2026. Read each tool’s scope and assumptions before relying on its result.

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