Social Security

Social Security retirement benefits are based on your lifetime earnings covered by Social Security. Your earnings record is used to calculate your Primary Insurance Amount, often called your PIA. The PIA is the starting point for determining the retirement benefit available at Full Retirement Age.

Claiming age matters because Social Security adjusts the worker benefit depending on how many months benefits begin before or after Full Retirement Age. Starting early generally creates a permanent age-related reduction. Waiting after Full Retirement Age can increase the worker benefit through delayed retirement credits, but those credits stop increasing at age 70.

Retirement benefits are only one part of the Social Security system. A spouse, former spouse, surviving spouse, child, or other family member may have rights on a worker's record under separate rules. That is why a household claiming decision can be different from simply asking which age produces the largest individual monthly check.

A Social Security claiming decision normally involves a tradeoff between receiving benefits sooner and receiving a larger monthly worker benefit by waiting. The right comparison depends on the facts that matter to the individual or household, including expected work income, health and longevity assumptions, marital status, survivor protection, other retirement income, and cash-flow needs.

A break-even calculation can be useful, but it should not be the only analysis. A simple break-even comparison measures cumulative benefits at different claiming ages. It does not automatically account for survivor benefits, taxes, investment returns, employment income, health, or the value of protecting the larger future household benefit.

Retirement Full Retirement Age depends on year of birth. It is 66 for people born from 1943 through 1954, then increases in two-month steps until reaching age 67 for people born in 1960 or later.

At Full Retirement Age, the unreduced spousal benefit can generally be up to 50% of the worker's PIA. That does not mean a spouse simply receives half of the worker's current monthly check. Social Security looks at the spouse's own retirement benefit first and then determines whether an additional spouse amount may be payable.

Claiming before Full Retirement Age can reduce the spouse benefit. The spousal portion does not earn delayed retirement credits after Full Retirement Age. A person's own retirement benefit may still increase if delayed, which is why dual-entitlement cases need to be evaluated carefully.

A surviving spouse may be eligible for survivor benefits beginning as early as age 60, or age 50 if the surviving spouse has a qualifying disability. In some situations, a surviving spouse caring for the deceased worker's child can qualify at a younger age.

A surviving spouse's payment can range from a reduced amount when started early up to 100% of the deceased worker's benefit at the survivor's applicable Full Retirement Age, subject to Social Security rules. Survivor Full Retirement Age is not always the same as retirement Full Retirement Age.

Survivor benefits also create planning flexibility because a person who qualifies for both a survivor benefit and a retirement benefit may sometimes start one benefit first and switch to the other later. The two benefits are not simply added together.

A divorced spouse may qualify for benefits on a former spouse's record if Social Security's eligibility requirements are met. In general, the marriage must have lasted at least 10 years, the divorced spouse must generally be at least age 62 and unmarried, and the benefit available on the former spouse's record must be higher than the divorced spouse's own benefit before an additional amount is payable.

In some cases, a divorced spouse can qualify even when the former spouse has not yet filed for retirement benefits, provided the former spouse is eligible and the divorce has been final for the required period. Survivor rules for a surviving divorced spouse are different from living divorced-spouse rules.

If you are under Full Retirement Age for the entire year, Social Security can withhold $1 in benefits for every $2 of earnings above the annual limit. In 2026, that limit is $24,480.

In the year you reach Full Retirement Age, a higher limit applies to earnings before the month you reach FRA. In 2026, that limit is $65,160, and Social Security can withhold $1 in benefits for every $3 earned above the limit. Beginning with the month you reach Full Retirement Age, the earnings test no longer reduces retirement or survivor benefits because of how much you earn.

Benefits withheld under the retirement earnings test are not necessarily lost forever. Social Security can recalculate the monthly benefit at Full Retirement Age to give credit for months in which benefits were withheld because of excess earnings.

Social Security Disability Insurance, commonly called SSDI, is different from retirement benefits even though both are part of Social Security. Eligibility generally requires a qualifying disability or blindness and enough recent covered work history.

Disability benefits can also interact with family benefits. In certain circumstances, a spouse, child, or adult child whose disability began before age 22 may qualify for benefits on a worker's record.

Disability determinations are fact-specific. The Social Security Administration makes the official decision about whether a person meets the program's disability definition and work requirements.