What's the Best Age for (Most) People to Claim Social Security?

It's a question investors have been asking themselves ever since they had the option: When should I claim Social Security retirement benefits? Starting them earlier results in smaller monthly payment, but you'll (probably) collect them for longer. Conversely, filing later leads to bigger monthly checks, but you won't collect them for as a long.

The fact that the most common answer to the question is, "It depends" underscores the idea that everyone's situation is at least a little bit different. The thing is, while there are certainly worthy exceptions, the statistical averages yield a clear answer for most people. But first things first.

Experts agree

Although Social Security's official full retirement age -- or FRA – is somewhere between 66 and 67 (depending on when you were born), that's not the only age at which you can file for retirement benefits. You can claim as soon as you turn 62, wait until you're 70, or initiate your benefits payments at any point in between those two ages.

There's an impact on your payment for filing early or late, of course. While you'll receive 100% of your intended Social Security benefits if you claim at your FRA, collecting at 62 will reduce your payment by as much as 30%. Conversely, waiting until you turn 70 to initiate your benefits will add 24% to whatever you'd collect by claiming at your official full retirement age (although there's no additional benefit to waiting beyond the age of 70 to file, so don't tarry once you reach that milestone).

With the average monthly Social Security currently standing at $1,865, the difference between these two extremes can be a several hundred bucks per month. That's certainly something to think about! So what do the experts say?

It's easy to get buried in the statistical minutiae, but three studies have independently determined the best age to claim Social Security benefits. If you'd like to learn more about how these experts came up with their figures, the number-crunching came from:

• Wei Sun and Anthony Webb -- A working paper titled, "How Much Do Households Really Lose by Claiming Social Security at Age 62?" published by Boston College's Center for Retirement Research, 2009
• David Altig, Laurence J. Kotlikoff, and Victor Yifan Ye -- A working paper titled, "How Much Lifetime Social Security Benefits Are Americans Leaving On the Table?" published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, 2022
• Neha Bairoliya and Kathleen McKiernan -- An analysis titled, "Revisiting Retirement and Social Security Claiming" published by Vanderbilt University, 2021, revised 2023

And what do all of these professionals suggest? All of them agree that in nearly all cases it makes the most mathematical sense to wait as long as possible before claiming Social Security benefits. In other words, if you can, wait to claim until you turn 70, when your payments will start out much bigger.

Misguided worry

The most common counterargument is a reasonable one. That is, you don't know how long you're going to live, so it makes the most sense to collect something -- even a reduced payment -- for as long as you possibly can. Besides, Social Security's payment calculations are set up so everyone (on average) will receive the same amount of lifetime net benefits.

If you're playing the odds based on the averages, though, it actually still makes the most sense to wait as long as possible, since you very likely will live well beyond the age of 70.

The underlying concern is the average life expectancy for people living in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report the number is 78.4 years. If you wait until you turn 70 to file for benefits, you'll seemingly get only a little over eight years' worth of Social Security benefits. Claiming at the age of 62 would provide you with twice as many years' worth of Social Security payments. That seems like a no-brainer.

Image source: Getty Images.

There's more to the matter, though. The CDC's figure reflects the deaths of everyone in the U.S. at any age, including those who never came close to an age at which they could collect Social Security retirement benefits.

Numbers from the Social Security Administration itself shed a more detailed light on the matter. That is, people who live all the way to the age of 70 have a life expectancy of 84 years (for men), or 86 years (for women). That's an average of 15 years, or nearly twice as long as the CDC's figure suggests. And many of these people end up living much, much longer.

You're probably not an exception

There are still exceptions, to be sure. For instance, health problems may simply not allow you to continue working until you're 70 years old. It's also possible that you'll have enough retirement income from other sources, like an IRA or a 401(k), that claiming Social Security early won't really matter to you in the long run.

In these instances, it can statistically make more sense to file before you reach 70 years of age, just on the off chance that you won't live as long as you're statistically expected to -- you'll end up collecting something, which will benefit your heirs.

Financial modeling experts agree, though, that for most people, the best bet is delaying Social Security benefits for as long as possible rather than claiming early and reducing the size of your monthly payment. Even if it means postponing retirement or getting a temporary job to cover your living expenses in the meantime, it's probably worth it.

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