ClaimWhen estimates your optimal Social Security claiming age using the Social Security Administration's published formulas. Enter your birth year, your benefit at full retirement age, and a life-expectancy assumption to see your lifetime benefit at every claim age from 62 to 70, your break-even ages, and a recommended range you can print.
Open the calculator, or start with your cohort or state:
Latest article (updated July 20, 2026): The 2027 Social Security COLA: what mid-2026 inflation data is signaling — The 2027 COLA will be set by July–September 2026 inflation and announced in mid-October. Mid-year data points higher than this year's 2.8% — here is what the numbers signal, and what a bigger COLA means (and doesn't) for when you claim. All articles.
Independent and not affiliated with the Social Security Administration. General information, not financial or tax advice.
Updated July 2026