Social Security Calculator

Step one: the bend-point formula

Social Security replaces a larger share of income for lower earners. It does this with three brackets applied to your Average Indexed Monthly Earnings: 90% of the first slice, 32% of the middle, and just 15% of the top. The cut-offs between them — the "bend points" — are set the year you turn 62 and this page uses the current figures. The result is your Primary Insurance Amount, the benefit you would get at Full Retirement Age.

Step two: claiming age

You can claim as early as 62 or as late as 70. Claiming before Full Retirement Age permanently reduces the benefit — by five-ninths of one percent for each of the first 36 early months, and five-twelfths beyond that. Claiming after FRA earns delayed retirement credits of two-thirds of one percent per month, or 8% a year, up to 70. There is no benefit to waiting past 70. Claiming at 62 with an FRA of 67 pays 70% of the base; waiting to 70 pays 124%.

AIME is not your salary

The most common misunderstanding: AIME is not your current or final pay. It is the average of your highest 35 years of earnings, each indexed to national wage growth, divided by twelve. Years with no earnings count as zero and drag the average down. Your annual SSA statement lists your AIME and PIA directly, which is the accurate input here — an estimate from current salary alone will usually be too high.

What this estimate leaves out

This is the core retirement-benefit formula, not the whole system. It does not model spousal or survivor benefits, the earnings test that temporarily withholds benefits if you keep working before FRA, income tax on benefits, Medicare premiums deducted from the cheque, or the annual cost-of-living adjustment that raises benefits after you claim. It also assumes you have the full 35 years of covered earnings behind your AIME. Treat the figure as a solid planning baseline and confirm the exact amount with your SSA statement or the SSA's own detailed calculator.

Frequently Asked Questions