Claiming Social Security at 62, 67 or 70: How to Find Your Break-Even Age

For someone whose full retirement age is 67, claiming at 62 pays 70% of the full benefit, while waiting until 70 pays 124%. The break-even age, when the larger checks from waiting make up for the years you went without, usually lands around age 78 to 83. If you expect to live past that point, delaying generally pays more over your lifetime; if not, claiming earlier may come out ahead.

Why your claiming age changes your check

Your full benefit, called your primary insurance amount (PIA), is what you receive if you start at your full retirement age. You can start as early as 62 or as late as 70, and the monthly amount is adjusted to reflect how long you will be collecting.

For anyone born in 1960 or later, full retirement age is 67. If you were born from 1955 to 1959, it is 66 plus two months for each year after 1954, so 66 and 2 months for 1955, up to 66 and 10 months for 1959. You can check your own with our full retirement age calculator.

Claiming early

For each month you claim before full retirement age, your benefit is reduced by 5/9 of 1% for the first 36 months, and by 5/12 of 1% for each month beyond that. With an FRA of 67, claiming at 62 is 60 months early: 36 months at 5/9 of 1% is 20%, and 24 months at 5/12 of 1% is 10%, for a total reduction of 30%.

Claiming late

For each month you wait past full retirement age, you earn a delayed retirement credit of 2/3 of 1%, which is 8% a year. Credits stop at 70. Waiting from 67 to 70 adds three years of credits, or 24%.

The gap is large. At 70, the monthly check in this example is $1,080 more than at 62, and that difference continues for life, increased by every future cost-of-living adjustment.

How to find your break-even age

The idea behind a break-even age is simple. If you start early, you collect smaller checks for more years. If you wait, you collect larger checks for fewer years. At some age, the running totals meet. Before that age, the early claimer is ahead; after it, the later claimer is ahead.

The steps are:

1. Work out the head start: the total the early claimer collects before the later claimer receives a first check.
2. Work out the monthly gap between the two benefits.
3. Divide the head start by the monthly gap. The result is how many months after the later start date it takes to catch up.

The examples below use a $2,000 full benefit and ignore cost-of-living adjustments, taxes and investment returns, to keep the arithmetic clear. Because COLAs raise both amounts by the same percentage, leaving them out does not move the break-even age by much.

Example 1: claiming at 62 versus 67

• Head start: 60 months × $1,400 = $84,000
• Monthly gap: $2,000 − $1,400 = $600
• Catch-up time: $84,000 ÷ $600 = 140 months, or 11 years 8 months

Break-even age: 67 + 11 years 8 months = about 78 years 8 months.

Example 2: claiming at 67 versus 70

• Head start: 36 months × $2,000 = $72,000
• Monthly gap: $2,480 − $2,000 = $480
• Catch-up time: $72,000 ÷ $480 = 150 months, or 12 years 6 months

Break-even age: 70 + 12 years 6 months = about 82 years 6 months.

Example 3: claiming at 62 versus 70

• Head start: 96 months × $1,400 = $134,400
• Monthly gap: $2,480 − $1,400 = $1,080
• Catch-up time: $134,400 ÷ $1,080 = about 124.4 months, or roughly 10 years 4 months

Break-even age: about 80 years 4 months.

Lifetime totals at different ages

Another way to see the same thing is to add up what each choice pays by a given birthday. Using the same $2,000 full benefit, without COLAs:

By 75, the early claimer is well ahead. By 80, the three choices are close. By 90, waiting until 70 has paid $124,800 more than claiming at 62. The longer you live, the more delaying is worth.

Because the break-even depends only on the percentages, it lands at roughly the same age whether your full benefit is $1,200 or $3,500. What changes is the dollar size of the difference.

Factors beyond the break-even age

The break-even age is a helpful starting point, but no one knows exactly how long they will live, and other parts of your situation can tip the decision.

Health and family history

If you have serious health conditions, claiming earlier may make sense. If you are in good health and your parents lived into their late 80s or 90s, the odds of passing the break-even age are higher.

Whether you are still working

If you claim before full retirement age and keep working, the earnings test may withhold benefits. In 2027, $1 is withheld for every $2 you earn above $25,560, or for every $3 above $67,920 in the year you reach full retirement age. Withheld months are later credited back by raising your benefit at full retirement age. Our 2027 earnings limit guide explains how this works.

Married couples and survivor benefits

For couples, the higher earner's claiming age matters twice. When one spouse dies, the survivor generally keeps the larger of the two benefits. If the higher earner waited until 70, that larger check continues for the surviving spouse. If the higher earner claimed early, the survivor benefit is the larger of the deceased's actual benefit or 82.5% of the deceased's full benefit. Our survivor benefits guide goes into this in depth.

Spousal benefits work differently. A spouse can receive up to 50% of the worker's full benefit at the spouse's own full retirement age, but spousal benefits do not earn delayed credits. There is no reason for a spouse to wait past full retirement age to claim a spousal benefit. See the spousal benefits guide for the rules.

Other savings and taxes

If delaying means drawing down savings for a few years, consider how that affects your investments and future required withdrawals. Social Security is also partly taxable for many retirees, depending on other income; our explainer on whether Social Security is taxable covers the rules.

A simple way to decide

Many people find it helpful to work through a few questions in order:

• Do you need the income now? If you cannot cover basic expenses without it, claiming earlier may be necessary.
• How is your health? Compare your realistic life expectancy with the break-even ages above.
• Are you married, and are you the higher earner? If so, waiting often protects your spouse.
• Are you still working? If you will earn well above the limit, claiming before full retirement age may simply lead to withheld benefits.

Start with an accurate estimate of your full benefit. Your Social Security statement shows it, or you can estimate it with our Social Security benefit calculator.

This guide is for general education and is not financial, tax or legal advice. Rules and amounts can change; confirm details with the Social Security Administration, the IRS or Medicare. Spotted an error? Let us know.