Social Security Claiming Age
Compare every claiming age from 62 to 70 by what you can expect to collect over your lifetime, weighted by how long people like you live.
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About you
Your statement at ssa.gov/myaccount lists the benefit at full retirement age. Enter it in today's dollars.
Best expected claim age
68 and 6 mo
$2,912 a month
Over claiming at the earliest
+$19,862
Expected lifetime value, today's dollars
Life expectancy
83.7
Full retirement age 67
Your planned age against the best
The differences between nearby ages are often small. Claiming later is insurance against a long life more than a bet on one.
Every claiming age
| Claim at | Monthly | Of full benefit | Expected lifetime value | Catches up at | Chance you get there |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 62 | $1,820 | 70.0% | $356,325 | – | – |
| 63 | $1,950 | 75.0% | $360,019 | 77.0 | 75% |
| 64 | $2,080 | 80.0% | $361,506 | 78.0 | 73% |
| 65 | $2,253 | 86.7% | $367,932 | 77.6 | 75% |
| 66 | $2,426 | 93.3% | $371,524 | 78.0 | 73% |
| 67 | $2,600 | 100.0% | $372,585 | 78.7 | 73% |
| 68 | $2,808 | 108.0% | $375,665 | 79.0 | 70% |
| 69 | $3,016 | 116.0% | $375,751 | 79.7 | 70% |
| 70 | $3,224 | 124.0% | $373,042 | 80.4 | 67% |
“Catches up at” is the age when the larger, later checks overtake the total from claiming at the earliest age, before discounting.
Total collected by age
2,000 simulated lifetimes
| Strategy | Unlucky (10th pct.) | Typical | Long life (90th pct.) | Beats earliest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earliest (62) | $125,053 | $385,912 | $516,243 | – |
| Full retirement age (67) | $35,771 | $408,426 | $594,615 | 63% |
| Age 70 | $0 | $408,270 | $639,143 | 57% |
| Best expected (68 and 6 mo) | $0 | $412,440 | $620,971 | 62% |
How it works›
Benefit rules. Claiming before full retirement age cuts the benefit 5/9 of 1% a month for 36 months and 5/12 of 1% after that. Each month of delay past it adds 2/3 of 1% until 70. SSA pays whole dollars, rounded down.
Life expectancy. Published yearly death rates come from the SSA 2021 period life table, then are scaled for health: 0.6 times average for excellent through 2 times for poor. Those multipliers are an assumption. The remaining tail is closed at age 120.
Expected lifetime value. Each year's benefits are weighted by the chance you're alive to collect them and discounted by the rate you set. Benefits rise with the COLA, so the rate is the return above inflation you'd give up by waiting.
Simulated lifetimes. Ages at death are drawn from the same mortality, with a fixed seed so results don't shift between visits. Percentiles show the spread; the chance of beating the earliest claim counts lifetimes where a strategy collected more in present value.
What it leaves out. Spousal and survivor benefits (see the couples optimizer), the earnings test for claiming while working, taxes on benefits and whether you need the income sooner.
Reference sources. These sources support the component rules. Model choices and exclusions are described in the notes above.SSA: period life tableSSA: benefit rules