Retirement Social Security

If You Qualify for the Average Social Security Check at 67, Here's What You'd Get at 62 and 70

Here's how the age when you claim Social Security impacts your check.

By Paige Cerulli , Edited by Laura Hohenstein

Updated Nov. 15, 2026

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Social Security senior benefits are a key component of retirement for millions of Americans. But timing when you start to collect Social Security may change the size of your monthly check. Though factors like how much you earned during your career, how many years you worked, and your marital status all affect your benefits, it's also important to carefully consider the age when you start claiming benefits.

Here's what you should know about how your claiming age affects your checks and how to decide when it's the right time for you to claim.

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Social Security averages

According to the Social Security Administration's (SSA's) Monthly Statistical Snapshot, the average retired-worker benefit was $2,087.52 in August 2026. But the maximum possible benefit in 2026 at age 62, the youngest possible retirement age, is $2,969. If a retiree waits until full retirement age to claim, that maximum benefit is $4,152. Waiting until age 70 to claim boosts that maximum benefit up to $5,181. Those maximum possible benefits change because of the claiming age.

The full retirement age is the earliest age at which older adults may claim Social Security benefits and receive their entire benefit amount. For anyone born in 1960 or later, the full retirement age is 67.

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How age impacts Social Security benefit amounts

Americans have the option of claiming benefits as early as age 62, but that comes with a permanent deduction in their benefit amount. Claiming early may reduce your benefits by as much as 30%; the reduction accounts for the fact that you should collect benefits over more months than someone who waits to collect until full retirement age.

Collecting benefits later may result in larger checks. If you wait until after full retirement age to claim benefits, your check amounts increase by 8% for every year you delay until you reach age 70, at which point the increases stop.

The math behind collecting benefits

Let's take a look at how that plays out. Let's say that an individual would receive $2,000 per month, or $24,000 per year, in Social Security if they claim at full retirement age, age 67.

If that individual chooses to claim benefits at age 62, their benefits are reduced by about 30%, and they'd receive about $1,400 per month, or $16,800 per year.

If that individual waits to claim benefits until age 70, their benefits are increased by about 24%, or 8% for every year they delay. The individual would receive about $2,480 per month in benefits, or about $29,760 per year.

However, the numbers alone don't paint a complete picture, and the figures leave out some key considerations.

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The break-even age

The break-even age refers to the point when the dollar value of claiming benefits later surpasses the dollar value of claiming them early. If you claim benefits early and they're permanently reduced, after a certain number of years, you could have collected more money if you had waited and claimed later, receiving a larger check.

You might calculate your break-even age and use that to help you decide whether you should claim earlier or later, but it's also important to consider other factors, like your financial situation and your health.

The COLA compounding on a larger base

The cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) also affects a retiree's benefit amount. The COLA helps ensure Social Security benefits keep up with inflation, potentially increasing benefits by a percentage each year.

Since the COLA is a percentage-based increase, the size of the increase that individuals receive is partially based on how much they receive in benefits. The COLA is applied to the worker's primary insurance amount, and someone who claims early usually receives a smaller dollar increase than someone with a larger benefit.

The earnings test before full retirement age

The earnings test before full retirement age may also affect your benefit amount. If you plan on claiming Social Security and continuing to work before full retirement age, your benefits may be reduced if you earn above a certain threshold. Your benefit checks remain smaller until you reach full retirement age, at which point your benefits are recalculated to include any benefits that were withheld.

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The survivor benefit consequences for married couples

The age when you claim Social Security benefits may also impact your spouse's survivor benefits if you die. If you wait to claim past your full retirement age, your benefits are increased, and your spouse's survivor benefit is also increased. But if you claim before full retirement age and your benefits are reduced, that reduction also affects your surviving spouse's benefits.

That reduction is limited, though. The surviving spouse is entitled to their late spouse's reduced monthly benefit or 82.5% of their spouse's full benefit, whichever amount is higher.

Bottom line

Deciding when to claim Social Security is a largely personal decision, and it's a choice that you need to base on factors like your financial situation, your benefit amounts, your anticipated lifespan, and even whether you're married. To get the best idea of how your age may affect your benefits, create a personalized estimate outlining the benefit increase and reduction that might occur if you collect at age 62 or 70.

You may use your my Social Security account to access your Social Security statement, which includes estimates of your benefit amounts. Knowing these figures is an important step in seeing whether you're on track for retirement and in making that important decision about when to claim benefits.

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