When should you claim Social Security?
You can generally start retirement benefits between ages 62 and 70. Starting earlier provides income sooner; waiting provides a larger monthly benefit. The most useful comparison considers the rest of your retirement plan—not just a break-even age.
Reviewed August 2, 2026 · Educational information, not individualized advice
The basic claiming-age tradeoff
Social Security reduces a retirement benefit when it starts before full retirement age and adds delayed retirement credits when it starts afterward. The benefit stops increasing because of delayed claiming at age 70. Your actual amounts depend on your birth date and earnings record, so use the estimates in your my Social Security account.
Income begins sooner, but the monthly retirement benefit is permanently reduced.
Full retirement age for people born in 1960 or later.
The largest monthly retirement benefit from delayed claiming for this birth-year group.
These percentages illustrate a worker born in 1960 or later, whose full retirement age is 67. Other birth years have different full retirement ages and percentages. SSA calculates adjustments monthly, not only at whole-year ages.
Why the largest check is not automatically the best choice
Income needed while you wait
Delaying can increase dependable lifetime income, but spending still has to be funded before benefits begin. Larger IRA or taxable-account withdrawals during those years can reduce the portfolio that remains invested.
Health and longevity
A person expecting a longer retirement has more time to receive the larger delayed benefit. Someone with a shorter life expectancy or an immediate need for income may place more value on receiving payments sooner. Longevity is uncertain, so compare a range of ending ages rather than relying on one break-even estimate.
Work before full retirement age
Claiming and stopping work are separate decisions. Benefits may be withheld when someone claims before full retirement age and earns more than the applicable earnings limit. Continuing to work can also change the earnings record used to calculate the benefit.
Taxes and Roth conversions
Social Security can be taxable depending on filing status and other income. Starting benefits can also overlap with IRA withdrawals or Roth conversions. A lower monthly benefit is not necessarily a lower-tax retirement plan, and a lower lifetime tax estimate does not automatically produce the strongest spending outcome.
Spouses and survivors
Couples should examine both lives together. Claiming can affect spousal and survivor income, and special rules apply when someone qualifies for more than one type of benefit. Survivor benefits have different claiming considerations from retirement benefits.
Medicare is a separate decision
Delaying Social Security does not necessarily mean delaying Medicare. Review Medicare enrollment rules near age 65, particularly if you do not have qualifying employer coverage.
How to compare claiming ages in the planner
- Enter the age-specific estimates from your Social Security account.
- Enter retirement savings, annual spending, and other income using a consistent dollar basis.
- Compare each claim-age row at your primary horizon age and ending age.
- Review taxes, portfolio depletion, and year-by-year withdrawals—not only ending balance.
- Run Retirement Risk Analysis to see how the strategy behaves across uncertain market histories.
- Repeat the comparison with cautious spending, inflation, and longevity assumptions.
Official resources
- SSA: Plan for retirement
- SSA: Receiving benefits before full retirement age
- SSA: Delayed retirement for people born in 1960 or later
- SSA: Retirement and spouse filing rules
- SSA: Claiming age and stopping work
Social Security timing can also change the years available for conversions. Read How to compare Roth conversion strategies.
After comparing claiming ages, learn how to test them across uncertain market outcomes.
Use the scenario-comparison guide to evaluate results using consistent ages, assumptions, and dollar values.
Compare ages 62 through 70 with your assumptions
Retirement Income Planner shows how each claiming age interacts with spending, portfolio withdrawals, taxes, Roth conversions, Medicare, and uncertain markets. No account or financial-data upload is required.
Open the Retirement Income Planner