You Could Receive as Much as $2,100 a Month From Social Security at 62. Delaying to 70 May Boost That by About $1,600.

If you are hoping to leave work early, starting Social Security at 62 can look like a simple way to replace lost income. But holding off until 70 could lift your monthly check by about $1,600. The tradeoff is that you would need another income source or savings to get through the years before benefits begin. A useful way to compare the options is to calculate your break-even point, the age when higher payments finally offset the money you gave up by waiting.

How Claiming at 62 Affects Social Security Benefits

Social Security bases retirement benefits on your work history and changes the payment amount depending on when you start. For people born in 1960 or later, full retirement age is 67. Filing at 62 permanently reduces benefits by 30%, while delaying beyond full retirement age adds 8% in delayed retirement credits each year until 70.

Social Security has announced a 3.6% cost-of-living adjustment for 2027. That would increase the average retired-worker benefit from $2,095 to about $2,170 in January. To illustrate how waiting can raise a payment by roughly $1,600, assume your full retirement age benefit is $3,000 per month. Here is how that amount changes if you claim at 62, 67 or 70:

In this example, claiming at 62 would reduce a $3,000 monthly benefit to $2,100, while waiting until 70 would raise it to $3,720. That is $1,620 more each month, before any future COLA increases, which would lift both checks over time.

People who earn at or near the maximum taxable wage throughout their careers can qualify for much larger payments. For someone retiring in 2027 after earning at or above Social Security’s taxable maximum since age 22, the maximum monthly benefit would be $3,094 at 62, $4,188 at 67 and $5,358 at 70.

Because those figures reflect different workers retiring at different ages, they should not be used to estimate how your own benefit would change by waiting. A financial advisor can help you project possible benefits at different claiming ages using your personal earnings record.

What Your Claiming Age Can Mean Over 30 Years

The age you choose to claim also affects how much you may collect over your lifetime. Filing at 62 gives you more years of payments, but each check is smaller. Waiting until 70 means fewer years of payments, but each check is larger.

If you start at 62 and receive $2,100 a month, that comes to $25,200 a year. Over 30 years, or through age 92, the total would be $756,000. Starting at 67 would raise the monthly amount to $3,000, or $36,000 a year. Over 25 years of benefits through age 92, that totals $900,000. Waiting until 70 would produce the largest monthly payment, $3,720, or $44,640 annually. Over 22 years, the total would reach $982,080.

These totals do not include future COLA increases, so your actual lifetime benefits could be higher. The comparison below shows how the totals can vary by claiming age:

Claiming at 67 would cost you $126,000 more than claiming at 62, based on five fewer years of smaller payments. Waiting until 70 would widen that difference to $201,600. By age 92, however, delaying until 70 would leave you with $226,080 more than claiming at 62 and $82,080 more than claiming at 67.

How to Estimate Your Breakeven Point

Your break-even point is the age when the larger monthly checks from delaying make up for the benefits you skipped by waiting. You can estimate it with this formula: (Monthly benefit at the earlier age × number of months you wait) ÷ difference in monthly benefits = months after the later claiming age needed to break even.

For example, if you wait until 67 to collect $3,000 instead of starting at 62 with $2,100, you would multiply $2,100 by 60 months to get $126,000. Dividing that by $900 gives 140 months, which works out to a break-even age of about 78 years and 8 months. This simplified approach does not include future COLAs, taxes or possible investment gains from receiving benefits earlier.

You can find the details needed to estimate your break-even age on your Social Security statement, which is available through your my Social Security account. For a more complete review, a financial advisor can help weigh your health, other retirement income, taxes and a spouse’s survivor benefit before you choose a claiming age.

1. Social Security Administration. “Early or Late Retirement.” https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/quickcalc/early_late.html.

2. Social Security Administration. “Social Security Announces 3.6 Percent Benefit Increase for 2027.”

3. Social Security Administration, Office of the Chief Actuary. “Benefit Examples for Workers With Maximum-Taxable Earnings.” https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/examplemax.html.