Estimate your Social Security benefit from your earnings with SSA’s 2026 formula
Estimates only, not financial advice. What you type stays on your device. Checked against sources on 7 Oct 2026.Social Security bases your benefit on your 35 highest years of earnings, each raised to today’s wage level with the national average wage index. The monthly average then goes through the 2026 formula: 90% of the first $1,286, 32% up to $7,749 and 15% above. Enter a salary or your year-by-year earnings for an estimate, then see the benefit at every claiming age from 62 to 70.
Rates and rules read from the sources listed on this page (the earliest on 7 Oct 2026); they may have changed since.
Enter your "Date of birth"; "Estimate from my earnings" is already chosen.
Under "Your earnings", choose "From my salary" and enter "Pay this year, before tax", "Started work at age" and "Stop work at age", or choose "Year by year" and paste your earnings.
Read "Estimated benefit at full retirement age" and the monthly amount at your two claiming ages.
Open "How the estimate is worked out" to see each year indexed, the highest 35 years and the formula.
Check the figure against your statement at my Social Security (ssa.gov/myaccount).
Social Security retirement benefits can start at any month from 62 to 70. Claim before your full retirement age and the monthly amount is cut for life; claim after it and delayed retirement credits raise it. With a full retirement age of 67, claiming at 62 pays 70% of the full benefit and waiting until 70 pays 124%.
Start from your own number, or estimate it. The benefit at full retirement age, the primary insurance amount, comes from your 35 highest years of indexed earnings. Your statement at ssa.gov/myaccount shows it. Without one, choose Estimate from my earnings: the calculator indexes each year with SSA's average wage index, averages the best 35 and applies the 2026 formula (90% of the first $1,286 a month, 32% up to $7,749, 15% above). It reproduces SSA's own worked examples to the cent, but it is an estimate, not your record.
What this calculator does not include: spousal and survivor benefits, which often make delaying worth more for the higher earner of a couple; the earnings test, which withholds benefits if you work before full retirement age; income tax on benefits; Medicare premiums taken from the payment; and investment returns on money received early. SSA rounds each amount down, so its figure can be a few cents lower. An estimate, not advice.
The rest of the article, and all 6 questions about Social Security Claiming Age Calculator, are on the Social Security Claiming Age Calculator page.
With a full retirement age of 67, claiming at exactly 62 pays 70% of your full benefit: 36 months at 5/9 of 1% and 24 months at 5/12 of 1% add up to a 30% cut. With a full retirement age of 66, the cut is 25%. The reduction is permanent and stays after you reach full retirement age.
Full retirement age is 66 if you were born from 1943 to 1954, 66 and 2 months for 1955, rising two months a year to 66 and 10 months for 1959, and 67 for 1960 or later. Anyone born on 1 January uses the previous year, because Social Security treats an age as reached the day before a birthday.
The break-even age is when the total received from claiming later catches up with the total from claiming earlier. For someone with a full retirement age of 67, claiming at 70 rather than at 62 and 1 month breaks even at about 80 and a half. Living past that age makes waiting the better deal in lifetime dollars.
Choose Estimate from my earnings and enter a salary or your yearly earnings. Each year is capped at that year's taxable maximum, indexed to the average wage at age 60, and the highest 35 are averaged and run through the 2026 formula. Log in to my Social Security at ssa.gov/myaccount for the figure on your actual record.
Rates and rules change; check the source before you rely on a figure.
Still stuck? Ask about Social Security Claiming Age Calculator and anybody who knows can answer. No account needed.
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