Social Security Calculator
Get a quick estimate of your monthly Social Security retirement benefit. Enter your average annual earnings and the age you plan to claim, and see how your benefit changes based on when you start collecting. Note: this is a simplified estimate for planning purposes.
Social Security calculates your benefit using your Average Indexed Monthly Earnings (AIME) from your 35 highest-earning years. The AIME feeds into a progressive formula with two bend points that replaces a higher percentage of income for lower earners.
The 2025 formula replaces 90% of the first $1,174 in AIME, 32% of AIME between $1,174 and $7,078, and 15% of any AIME above $7,078. This produces your Primary Insurance Amount (PIA), which is your monthly benefit if you claim at your full retirement age of 67.
Claiming age makes a big difference. Claiming at 62 permanently reduces your benefit by about 30%. Waiting until 70 increases it by 24% above your PIA, thanks to delayed retirement credits of 8% per year. For someone with a PIA of $2,500, that means $1,750/month at 62 versus $3,100/month at 70. The breakeven point is typically around age 80 -- if you expect to live past 80, delaying usually pays off.