What's the Most You Can Receive?
The maximum Social Security benefit depends on your earnings history and the age you decide to start claiming. For a high earner retiring at full retirement age in 2024, the ceiling is set, but claiming later can push this even higher.
Maximum at Full Retirement Age (2024)
$3,822 / month
Maximum by Delaying to Age 70 (2024)
$4,873 / month
Interactive Benefits Calculator
This tool helps you visualize how your retirement age and lifetime earnings can affect your monthly Social Security benefit. Adjust the sliders and buttons below to see how different choices change your potential outcome. Note: This is an educational estimate, not an official calculation.
2. Choose Your Average Lifetime Earnings
Your Estimated Monthly Benefit:
$2,010
Key Factors That Determine Your Benefit
Your Social Security benefit isn't an arbitrary number. It's calculated based on a few crucial factors. Understanding them is the first step toward maximizing what you receive in retirement.
1. Your Earnings History
The Social Security Administration (SSA) calculates your benefit based on your 35 highest-earning years, adjusted for inflation. They average these earnings into a figure called the Average Indexed Monthly Earnings (AIME). If you have fewer than 35 years of earnings, zeros are averaged in for the missing years, which can significantly lower your benefit.
2. Your Full Retirement Age (FRA)
This is the age at which you are entitled to receive your full, unreduced retirement benefit. Your FRA is determined by your birth year. For those born in 1960 or later, the FRA is 67. Claiming before your FRA results in a permanent reduction, while waiting past it increases your benefit.
3. Your Claiming Age
You can start receiving benefits as early as age 62, but your monthly payment will be permanently reduced. For every year you delay past your FRA, up to age 70, you earn "delayed retirement credits" that permanently increase your monthly benefit by about 8% per year. This is one of the most powerful tools for maximizing your income.
Strategies to Maximize Your Benefits
Maximizing your benefits requires careful planning. By taking specific steps during your working years and as you approach retirement, you can significantly increase the amount of money you'll receive.
Since the calculation is based on your top 35 earning years, ensuring you have a full 35 years of work prevents the SSA from averaging in zeros. Each year you work past 35, if it's a high-earning year, will replace a lower-earning year from your past, boosting your average.
This is the single most effective strategy for most people. For every year you delay past your Full Retirement Age (up to 70), your benefit increases by about 8%. This results in a significantly larger monthly check for the rest of your life. This strategy is especially valuable if you are in good health and have other sources of income to live on until age 70.
Because your benefit is tied to your lifetime earnings, increasing your income—through raises, promotions, or a side business—will boost your 35-year average. Focus on earning as much as you can, especially in your later working years, as these higher-earning years will replace lower ones in your calculation.
Create an account on the Social Security Administration's website (ssa.gov) and regularly review your earnings record for errors. An employer might have reported your earnings incorrectly. Correcting these mistakes can ensure your benefit is calculated accurately based on your true earnings history.