It can be difficult to decide whether to claim Social Security benefits or delay them to a later age, when you would likely receive higher benefits. Since retirees can claim as early as age 62 and increase their benefits by waiting up until 70, there's a lot that goes into the decision since there's a big discrepancy in the amount depending on when they claim.
If you're thinking about delaying Social Security, here's what the math looks like in 2026.
Delaying Social Security benefits can make a big difference
Retirees can apply four months in advance to start receiving benefits in their first full month as a 62-year-old.
The catch with claiming benefits early is that the earlier you claim, the less money you're likely to receive. The Social Security Administration's (SSA) goal is for everyone to receive the same total benefits throughout their lifetime, so ideally, if you claim earlier and receive benefits for longer, you would receive a reduced amount each month. The amount you get is based on your primary insurance amount (PIA), which is the full amount of benefits you're entitled to at full retirement age (FRA).
Image source: Getty Images.
The FRA for people born in 1960 or later is 67. For each month retirees claim benefits before their FRA, their benefits will be reduced by a fraction of a percentage. Claiming benefits at age 62 could reduce benefits by 30%.
The same essentially applies to delaying benefits, but in reverse. For each month retirees delay claiming, their amount can rise by a fraction of a percent. If retirees with an FRA of 67 delay benefits until age 70 (the latest it pays to delay), they would see their benefits increase by 24%.
According to SSA data from February, the average monthly benefit for retired workers was about $2,076, or $24,912 annually. This doesn't provide any insight into the average age of all recipients that month, and the data shows that more people claim Social Security before their FRA.
But the SSA's 2025 annual statistical supplement, which includes data from December 2024, shows that the average PIA for all retired workers age 67 at that time was about $2,436 per month, or $29,232 annually.
We also know that the annual Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) was 2.5% in 2025 and 2.8% for this year. Applying those to the December 2024 average PIA would bring the current average PIA to about $2,567 per month, or $30,804 annually.
So, retirees who are 67 and want to wait until they are 70 would eventually claim a monthly benefit of $3,183, or $38,196 annually, and that's not factoring in future COLAs.
The right answer on when to claim benefits depends on you
As you can see from the math above, while retirees who are 67 and qualify for their PIA would receive a higher-than-average benefit amount than claiming as early as possible, waiting another three years would likely add at least about $7,400 to their annual benefits, which can be significant.
Deciding when to claim benefits depends on your specific situation. If your expenses have become more burdensome, perhaps due to increased healthcare costs, it may make sense to claim benefits early. But if you're in a good financial position and aren't concerned about expenses, waiting also makes perfect sense because your monthly check would increase materially.
