Your monthly Social Security check changes a lot depending on when you claim. Enter your benefit at full retirement age to compare every claiming age from 62 to 70 — and see the breakeven point between taking it early and waiting.
Social Security sets a full retirement age — 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later — where you receive 100% of your earned benefit. Claim earlier and the monthly check shrinks: about 30% smaller at 62. Wait past 67 and you earn delayed retirement credits worth 8% per year, maxing out at age 70 with a benefit roughly 24% larger than at full retirement age. There's no advantage to waiting past 70.
Claiming early means more checks, but smaller ones. Waiting means fewer checks, but larger ones. The breakeven age is where the cumulative totals cross — before it, claiming early has paid more in total; after it, waiting wins. It usually falls in the late seventies to early eighties. If you expect to live well past breakeven, waiting tends to pay off; if not, or if you need income sooner, claiming early can make sense.
Breakeven math ignores some big factors: a larger benefit from waiting is also a larger survivor benefit for a spouse, and Social Security is partly inflation-protected longevity insurance. On the other hand, claiming early lets your invested savings keep growing untouched. The right answer weaves together health, marital status, other income, and taxes — which is why it's worth modeling in full.