A study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research in November 2022 found that 90% of workers ages 45 to 62 would maximize their Social Security by claiming benefits at age 70. Yet, less than 10% of newly awarded retirees actually waited that long in 2023, and the percentage is similar in prior years.

That means most Americans are shortchanging themselves by claiming benefits too early. Read on to see the average Social Security payout at different ages, and to learn how claim age impacts benefit amounts.

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Here’s the average Social Security benefit for retired workers at different ages

The Social Security Administration periodically publishes anonymized benefit data to improve public understanding and maintain transparency. The chart below contains information from a biannual calculation last updated in June 2024. It shows the average monthly Social Security benefit for retired workers at different ages.

Source: Social Security Administration. Note: Payments have been rounded to the nearest dollar.

As shown above, the average retired-worker benefit tends to increase with age, such that the average 70-year-old receives an additional $294 per month compared to the average 66-year-old, and they receive an additional $463 per month compared to the average 62-year-old.

Multiple variables influence Social Security benefit amounts, but the pattern shown in the chart is primarily due to discrepancies in claim age. In other words, if all else is equal, a retired worker will get the smallest possible benefit at age 62 and the biggest possible benefit at age 70.

Here’s exactly how Social Security benefits for retired workers are calculated

The amount of income a retired worker receives from Social Security depends on three key variables: lifetime earnings, full retirement age, and claim age. The two-step process below explains how those three variables influence payments:

• Step 1: A formula is applied to the inflation-adjusted earnings from the 35 highest-paid years of a worker’s career to calculate their primary insurance amount (PIA), which is the benefit they will receive if they claim Social Security at full retirement age.
• Step 2: The PIA is adjusted for early or delayed retirement. Workers who claim Social Security before full retirement age get a smaller benefit, meaning less than 100% their PIA. Workers who start Social Security after full retirement age get a bigger benefit, meaning more than 100% of their PIA.

There are two important qualifications to that information. First, eligibility for retirement benefits begins at age 62, so no one can claim earlier. Second, delayed retirement credits stop accumulating at age 70, so no one should ever claim later.

The chart below details the relationship between birth year and full retirement age. It also shows the benefit (as a percentage of PIA) retired workers in each age group will receive if they claim Social Security at ages 62 and 70. In other words, the chart details the smallest and largest possible payouts for different age groups.

Data source: The Social Security Administration.

The chart above makes it clear that claim age can have a dramatic impact on Social Security payouts. In fact, retired workers born in 1960 or later can increase their benefit by 77% by simply delaying Social Security until age 70 rather than claiming at age 62.

Here is an example: A hypothetical worker born in 1960 has a primary insurance amount of $2,000, meaning their monthly benefit will equal $2,000 if they claim at age 67. But that hypothetical worker will get $1,400 per month if they claim benefits at age 62 (70% of $2,000), and they will get $2,480 per month if they claim benefits at age 70 (124% of $2,000).

In my example, $2,480 per month is 77% larger than $1,400 per month. Importantly, while the exact dollar amount will vary from person to person due to differences in lifetime earnings, the percent increase will remain constant.

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