When to start Social Security: 62, full retirement age or 70

You can start your retirement benefit as early as 62, take it at your full retirement age, or hold off until 70. The check is smaller if you start early and bigger if you wait. How much smaller and how much bigger is set out in two short tables from the Social Security Administration, and this page walks through them.

First, find your full retirement age

Full retirement age is the age at which you get 100% of the benefit you earned. It is 67 if you were born in 1960 or later and 66 if you were born from 1943 to 1954. For the birth years in between it climbs two months at a time: 66 and 2 months for 1955, 66 and 4 months for 1956, and so on up to 66 and 10 months for 1959.

One wrinkle: if your birthday is January 1, Social Security treats you as born the year before.

What starting at 62 costs

Start before full retirement age and the benefit is cut a small percentage for every month you are early. For someone born in 1960 or later, 62 is 60 months early, and the agency puts the cut at about 30%. A $1,000 benefit becomes $700. For people born from 1943 to 1954 the cut is 25%, so $1,000 becomes $750.

You also have to be 62 for the entire month before a benefit can be paid for it.

What waiting past full retirement age adds

For anyone born in 1943 or later, each month you wait beyond full retirement age adds 2/3 of 1% to the benefit. That works out to 8% for every 12 months. The increase stops at 70, so there is nothing to gain by waiting longer than that.

From 67 to 70 is 36 months, which adds 24%. A $1,000 benefit becomes $1,240.

The three ages side by side

Say you were born in 1960 or later and your benefit at full retirement age is $2,000 a month. Before any cost-of-living increases:

• Start at 62 and you get about $1,400 a month.
• Start at 67 and you get $2,000 a month.
• Wait until 70 and you get $2,480 a month.

The gap between the earliest and the latest start is $1,080 a month. Put your own figures into the claiming age calculator to see yours.

The trade-off, as the agency puts it

Social Security describes the choice plainly. The advantage of starting early is that you collect benefits for a longer period of time. The disadvantage is that your benefit is reduced. It adds that each person's situation is different, which is why this page gives you the numbers and stops there.

Two details people miss

Credits can show up late. If you start before 70, some of the credits you earned for waiting are not applied until the January after your benefits begin. Your first checks can be a little lower than the full figure.

Medicare does not wait. If you put off Social Security past 65, the agency says you should still apply for Medicare within 3 months of your 65th birthday. Wait longer and Part B and Part D may cost you more.

If you are claiming on a spouse's record

The most a spouse can receive is 50% of the worker's benefit at full retirement age. Starting early cuts a spouse's benefit by a bit more than a worker's: about 35% at 62 for someone born in 1960 or later.