How This Calculator Works

This calculator estimates your Social Security retirement benefit using the SSA's official formula: Average Indexed Monthly Earnings (AIME) converted to Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) via bend points, then adjusted for claiming age.

Inputs and Assumptions

Birth year: Determines your Full Retirement Age (FRA).
Average annual earnings: The average of your 35 highest-earning years, used as a proxy for your indexed earnings. A year with no earnings counts as zero, so with fewer than 35 working years, divide your total earnings by 35. For a precise estimate, use your actual earnings record from ssa.gov/myaccount.
Claiming age: Age 62 (earliest) through 70 (maximum delayed credits).

This calculator uses a simplified AIME calculation — it assumes your average annual earnings represent your 35-year average. SSA uses your actual highest 35 years of indexed earnings.

Maximum cap. Because the calculator treats every year as earned at today's $184,500 wage base, it would overstate a real maximum earner, whose earlier years sat under lower wage bases. So the benefit at Full Retirement Age is capped at SSA's published 2026 maximum for a worker retiring at FRA, $4,152 a month (SSA 2026 COLA fact sheet). When the cap applies, the results say so. Early and delayed amounts are worked from the capped figure.

Formula

// Step 1: AIME (Average Indexed Monthly Earnings)
AIME = averageAnnualEarnings / 12

// Step 2: PIA via bend points (2026 values)
PIA = 0.90 × min(AIME, $1,286)
    + 0.32 × min(max(AIME - $1,286, 0), $7,749 - $1,286)
    + 0.15 × max(AIME - $7,749, 0)

// Step 3: Claiming age adjustment
if claimAge < FRA:
  reduction = 5/9% per month for first 36 months early
            + 5/12% per month for additional months early
  benefit = PIA × (1 - reduction)

if claimAge > FRA:
  delayedCredits = 8% per year (2/3% per month)
  benefit = PIA × (1 + delayedCredits × yearsDelayed)

// Break-even age (early vs FRA)
// Cumulative benefits equal when:
// earlyMonthly × (breakEvenAge - 62) × 12 = fraMonthly × (breakEvenAge - FRA) × 12

Data Sources

SSA AIME/PIA formula — Official benefit calculation methodology.
SSA 2026 bend points ($1,286 / $7,749) — Updated annually by SSA based on the national average wage index. Until October 2026 this calculator used $1,115 / $6,721, the 2023 values mislabelled as 2024, which understated benefits.
SSA actuarial tables — Life expectancy data for break-even analysis.
SSA COLA history — Historical cost-of-living adjustments.
Full Retirement Age schedule — Born 1960+: FRA = 67.

Spousal Benefits

The calculator includes spousal and divorced-spouse benefit estimates using SSA rules. It does not estimate survivor benefits (see below).

Spousal Benefit Formula

A spouse can receive up to 50% of the worker's Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) — the benefit the worker would receive at their Full Retirement Age. This is the maximum spousal benefit regardless of whether the worker delays claiming to age 70.

If the spouse claims before their own FRA, the spousal benefit is reduced:

First 36 months before FRA: reduced by 25/36 of 1% per month (approximately 8.33% per year)
Additional months beyond 36: reduced by 5/12 of 1% per month (5% per year)

If the spouse has their own work record, they receive the higher of their own benefit or the spousal benefit — not both added together. When the spousal benefit exceeds their own, SSA pays their own benefit plus a “top-up” to reach the spousal amount.

Divorced Spouse Eligibility

A divorced spouse may claim benefits on an ex-spouse's record if:

The marriage lasted at least 10 years
The divorced spouse is currently unmarried
The divorced spouse is at least age 62
If divorced for 2+ years, the ex-spouse does not need to have filed for benefits

The ex-spouse's benefit is not affected — claiming on their record does not reduce their payment.

Widow(er) / Survivor Benefits

A surviving spouse can receive up to 100% of the deceased spouse's benefit, including any delayed retirement credits the deceased had earned. Survivor benefits can begin as early as age 60 (or 50 if disabled), but they are reduced before the survivor's own full retirement age for survivor benefits: 71.5% at 60, rising to 100% at 66 to 67 (SSA). The calculator does not model survivor benefits while we correct how it applies that reduction.

Government Pension Offset (GPO)

Until 2024, if you received a pension from a federal, state, or local government job where you did not pay Social Security taxes, the Government Pension Offset (GPO) reduced your spousal or survivor benefit by two-thirds of that pension — often eliminating it entirely. The Social Security Fairness Act (signed January 5, 2025) repealed the GPO for benefits payable after December 2023, so it no longer reduces spousal or survivor benefits. If yours was reduced while you were already receiving benefits, SSA recalculated it automatically and reported finishing those retroactive payments in July 2025; check your own record if you have not seen yours. If you never applied for a spouse's or survivor benefit because GPO would have removed it, you need to apply: that is not automatic.

Spousal Benefit Sources

Limitations

Uses a single average earnings figure — does not model year-by-year indexed earnings.
Does not apply WEP or GPO reductions: the Social Security Fairness Act ended both.
Spousal benefit uses the user's FRA as an approximation for the spouse's FRA when they have different birth years.
Does not include COLA projections on future benefits.
Bend points are 2026 values ($1,286 / $7,749) — may change in future years.
For the most accurate estimate, use your SSA statement at ssa.gov/myaccount.

Last Updated

April 2026 — Methodology published.

October 2026 — Moved to the 2026 SSA bend points ($1,286 / $7,749) from the shared source; the April version used the 2023 values ($1,115 / $6,721) labelled as 2024.

Social Security Benefits Estimator — Methodology