Social Security Benefit Estimator

How Social Security Benefits Are Calculated Social Security retirement benefits are based on your 35 highest-earning years, each adjusted for wage inflation using the Average Wage Index. The SSA calls this your Average Indexed Monthly Earnings (AIME). If you worked fewer than 35 years, zero-earning years are included in the average, which is one of the strongest incentives to work at least 35 years.

The Bend Point Formula The AIME is run through a progressive bend point formula that replaces a higher percentage of lower earners’ wages. For 2026: 90% of the first $1,286 of AIME, plus 32% of AIME between $1,286 and $7,749, plus 15% of any AIME above $7,749. These two dollar figures, called bend points, are re-indexed to average wages every year. This deliberate progressivity means lower-wage workers receive a higher replacement rate (often 50–60% of pre-retirement income) while higher earners receive a lower rate (often 25–35%). The result is your Primary Insurance Amount (PIA), your benefit at Full Retirement Age.

The Taxable Maximum Only earnings up to the Social Security taxable maximum count, and that ceiling is $184,500 for 2026. Pay above it is not taxed for Social Security and earns no benefit credit, which is why a maximum possible benefit exists. Someone on $400,000 builds exactly the same AIME as someone on $184,500. This calculator caps the figure you enter and says so in the result when it does.

Full Retirement Age (FRA) FRA is 67 for everyone born after 1960. It was 65 for those born before 1938 and gradually increased for years in between. At FRA, you receive exactly 100% of your PIA.

The Claiming Age Decision Claiming at 62 (the earliest possible age) permanently reduces your benefit by up to 30%. Each month before FRA that you claim reduces the benefit slightly. Waiting past FRA earns Delayed Retirement Credits: 8% per year (0.667% per month) up to age 70. Waiting from 67 to 70 adds 24% to your benefit permanently. Two break-even ages get quoted and they are not the same number. Against claiming at 62, waiting to 70 pays off from roughly age 80. Against claiming at Full Retirement Age, waiting to 70 pays off from roughly age 82 and a half. The widely repeated “82 to 83” figure is the second one, and it is often misattributed to the first.

Spousal and Survivor Benefits A spouse who has not worked can receive up to 50% of the higher earner’s PIA at FRA. A surviving spouse can receive 100% of the deceased spouse’s benefit. This makes the claiming decision for the higher earner especially important, because delaying their claim maximizes both the household’s lifetime income and the survivor benefit.

This page projects forward. Its sibling does not.

The number this calculator gives you assumes you keep earning your current salary right up to the claiming age you picked, so it adds the years between now and then to the years you have already worked. That is why it asks for your current age at all. It is the right model for the question “what will I have if I carry on”.

The Social Security estimate calculator counts only the years already on your record and stops there, which answers “what have I earned so far”. Same bend points, same reduction and delay rates, same wage base. They will still hand you different numbers, and the gap is the years you have not worked yet.
On 30 years at $80,000, claiming at 67, this page reports roughly $2,879 a month for a 55-year-old with twelve years still to go. The other reports $2,574. Neither is wrong; they are answering different questions.

This Is an Estimate Only This calculator uses a simplified formula and does not replicate the SSA’s exact computation. For a precise estimate based on your actual earnings record, create a free account at ssa.gov/myaccount.