Workers who qualify for Social Security benefits can start collecting their monthly payments at any point between the ages of 62 and 70. And as you may already know, the longer you wait, your monthly Social Security benefit will be. If you're thinking of waiting as long as possible, you might be wondering how much the typical 70-year-old gets.
The simple answer is that the average 70-year-old retired worker gets $2,037.54 per month, or about $24,450 per year, from Social Security, according to the 2024 Social Security Statistical Supplement. This is significantly higher than the overall retired worker average of $1,950.31 per month and is significantly higher than the average of $1,298.26 per month for the average 62-year-old Social Security recipient.
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The longer answer
Having said that, it's important to point out one important thing.
Specifically, this average includes retired worker beneficiaries who are 70 years old now. This includes a mix of people who claimed Social Security eight years ago when they turned 62, those who waited until age 70, and everywhere in between.
If you aren't aware, the majority of people who receive Social Security started collecting their benefits before reaching full retirement age. Of the 50.1 million total retired workers who collect Social Security, 31.6 million have reduced benefits for early retirement. Only 6 million have any sort of delayed retirement credit, meaning that they started collecting Social Security at any time after they reached full retirement age (between 65 and 67, depending on their birth year).
So, if we're only considering 70-year-olds who waited beyond full retirement age to start collecting Social Security, the average is a significantly higher $2,924.68 per month, which translates to nearly $35,100 per year in inflation-protected retirement income.
