Social Security Benefits Calculator (2026 formula)
This Social Security benefits calculator estimates your monthly retirement benefit from your average indexed monthly earnings (AIME), your year of birth and the age at which you claim. Example: an AIME of $5,000 for someone born in 1964 gives a primary insurance amount of $2,345.80 – that is $2,345 a month at 67, $1,642 at 62 and $2,908 at 70.
How it is calculated
Your Social Security retirement benefit is built in three steps: your earnings history is condensed into one number (AIME), a formula turns that into your primary insurance amount (PIA), and the age at which you claim raises or lowers the PIA. This page does steps two and three with the official figures for 2026 and shows every intermediate result.
Step 1: AIME
The Social Security Administration indexes your past earnings to wage growth, picks the 35 highest years, adds them up and divides by the number of months (420). The result, rounded down to a whole dollar, is your average indexed monthly earnings. If you only know a yearly average, choose that option and the calculator divides by 12.
Step 2: the 2026 PIA formula
For people who turn 62 in 2026 the PIA is 90% of the first $1,286 of AIME, plus 32% of AIME between $1,286 and $7,749, plus 15% of AIME above $7,749. The sum is rounded down to the next 10 cents. The two dollar amounts are called bend points; they change every year, and yours are fixed by the year you turn 62. For earlier years the calculator uses that year’s bend points and then adds the cost-of-living adjustments since then (most recently 2.8% for December 2025).
Step 3: claiming early or late
At full retirement age you receive 100% of the PIA. Each month before that costs 5/9 of 1% for the first 36 months and 5/12 of 1% for every further month; each month after it adds 2/3 of 1% (8% a year) until age 70. The monthly payment is rounded down to a whole dollar.
| Year of birth | Full retirement age | Benefit at 62 | Benefit at 70 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1943–1954 | 66 | 75% | 132% |
| 1955 | 66 and 2 months | 74.17% | 130.67% |
| 1957 | 66 and 6 months | 72.5% | 128% |
| 1959 | 66 and 10 months | 70.83% | 125.33% |
| 1960 and later | 67 | 70% | 124% |
Worked example
AIME $5,000, born 1964, so the 2026 formula applies: 90% × $1,286 = $1,157.40; 32% × $3,714 = $1,188.48; nothing falls above the second bend point. Sum $2,345.88, rounded down to a PIA of $2,345.80. Claiming at 67 pays $2,345 a month. Claiming at 62 is 60 months early: 36 × 5/9% + 24 × 5/12% = 30% less, so $1,642. Claiming at 65 gives 86.67%, or $2,033. Waiting until 70 adds 36 × 2/3% = 24%, so $2,908.
What the estimate leaves out
The calculator does not build your AIME from your earnings record – only the Social Security Administration has the complete record. Anyone who turns 62 after 2026 is calculated with the 2026 formula, in today’s dollars. If you start between full retirement age and 70, some of your delayed retirement credits are only applied from the following January; the calculator shows the amount with all credits applied. Future cost-of-living adjustments, benefits for spouses and survivors, the earnings test, Medicare premiums and income tax are not included.
Frequently asked questions
What is AIME and where do I get it?
AIME stands for average indexed monthly earnings: your 35 highest-earning years after wage indexing, added up and divided by 420 months. Your earnings record is shown in your my Social Security account at ssa.gov; the benefit estimates there are based on the same record.
How much is my benefit reduced if I claim at 62?
With a full retirement age of 67, claiming at 62 is 60 months early and costs 30%: 20% for the first 36 months and 10% for the other 24. In the example, $1,642 instead of $2,345 a month.
How much more do I get if I wait until 70?
Delayed retirement credits add 8% of the PIA for every year after full retirement age, up to age 70. With a full retirement age of 67 that is 124% – $2,908 instead of $2,345 in the example. Waiting beyond 70 adds nothing.
What are the bend points for 2026?
$1,286 and $7,749. They apply to people who turn 62 in 2026, that is, born in 1964. Someone born in 1959 keeps the 2021 bend points ($996 and $6,002) plus all cost-of-living adjustments since then.
What is the highest possible benefit in 2026?
The Social Security Administration’s examples for workers with maximum taxable earnings show $2,969 a month for retirement at 62 and $5,181 at 70 in 2026. You can reproduce both: AIME $14,358, born 1964, age 62 and 1 month – and AIME $10,593, born 1956, age 70.
Why does my result differ from the estimate in my account?
The account projects your future earnings and builds the AIME from your actual record; here you enter the AIME yourself. Differences also arise if you were born on the 1st of a month, if you kept working after 62, or if a family maximum or the earnings test applies.
Sources and legal basis
- 42 U.S.C. § 415(a): Social Security Administration, Office of the Chief Actuary: Primary Insurance Amount (2026 PIA formula: 90% / 32% / 15%, bend points $1,286 and $7,749, rounded down to 10 cents; retrieved 5 Oct 2026)
- Social Security Administration: Benefit Formula Bend Points (table from 1979; the year in which one turns 62 is decisive)
- 42 U.S.C. § 402(q), (w): Social Security Administration: Early or Late Retirement? (reduction of 5/9% per month for the first 36 months, then 5/12%; increase of 8% per year for those born 1943 or later, up to age 70)
- Social Security Administration: Normal Retirement Age (full retirement age by year of birth)
- Social Security Administration: Cost-Of-Living Adjustments (COLA series; most recently 2.8% for December 2025, payable from January 2026)
- Social Security Administration: Benefit Calculation Examples for Workers Retiring in 2026 (cases A and B – cross-check of the calculation core)
- Social Security Administration: my Social Security (personal account with the binding calculation based on the earnings record)
As of: · Editorial policy
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