Social Security Calculator
Estimate Social Security retirement benefits from your full-retirement-age monthly amount, birth year, claiming age and optional 2026 earned income.
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Change any assumption and calculate again to compare results.
Estimate Your Claiming-Age Effect
Start with the monthly retirement benefit shown for your full retirement age, often called the primary insurance amount or PIA. The calculator then adjusts that amount for an earlier or later claiming age. It does not rebuild your Social Security earnings record from scratch, so the most useful input is the full-retirement-age estimate from your Social Security statement.
For early retirement, Social Security reduces the benefit by 5/9 of 1% for each of the first 36 months before full retirement age and 5/12 of 1% for additional early months. For people born in 1943 or later, delayed retirement credits are 8% per year through age 70.
2026 Earnings Test
If you claim benefits before full retirement age and continue to work, some benefits may be withheld when earned income exceeds the annual limit. In 2026, the lower exempt amount is $24,480. In the year you reach full retirement age, the higher amount is $65,160 and only earnings before the full-retirement-age month count under that rule. Once full retirement age is reached, the retirement earnings test no longer applies.
Benefits withheld under the earnings test are not simply lost forever; Social Security can later recalculate the monthly benefit to account for months in which benefits were withheld. This calculator therefore shows withholding separately from the permanent claiming-age adjustment.
2026 Social Security Context
Social Security benefits received a 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment for 2026. The taxable maximum for Social Security payroll tax is $184,500 in 2026. Those figures provide useful context, but this tool does not calculate payroll tax or your original PIA from a lifetime earnings history.
Planning Tips
Claiming age is only one part of a retirement decision. Health, longevity expectations, spouse and survivor benefits, taxes, Medicare enrollment, work plans and access to other savings can all matter. Compare several claiming ages rather than relying on one scenario.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is Social Security reduced at age 62?
For someone whose full retirement age is 67, claiming at 62 can reduce the retirement benefit by about 30%. The exact reduction depends on the number of months before full retirement age.
How much does delaying Social Security increase benefits?
For people born in 1943 or later, delayed retirement credits are 8% per year, or 2/3 of 1% per month, until age 70.
What are the 2026 earnings-test limits?
For 2026, the lower annual exempt amount is $24,480 for someone under full retirement age all year. The higher limit is $65,160 for the year a person reaches full retirement age, applying only before the full-retirement-age month.