Social Security Calculators & Tools
Twelve free calculators for retirement age, benefit estimates, break-even age, the earnings test, spousal and survivor benefits, SSDI, SSI, COLA, taxation, and whether your retirement income covers your expenses, using official Social Security Administration data.
Social Security involves several decisions, and they affect each other: when you claim, whether you are still working, whether a spouse's record pays more than your own, and how your combined income is taxed. A claim made at the wrong time can permanently lower a benefit that is paid every month for the rest of your life.
When to Claim: The Decision Most People Get Wrong
Every worker has a full retirement age (FRA), between 66 and 67 depending on birth year, at which 100% of the calculated benefit is paid. If you claim at 62, the earliest age, the benefit is permanently reduced, typically by 25% to 30%. If you wait past FRA, the benefit grows by about 8% a year through delayed retirement credits, up to age 70. Waiting past 70 adds nothing.
The right age depends on your health, your other income, whether you are still working, and what your household needs. Our Full Retirement Age Calculator shows your FRA and how claiming earlier or later changes the monthly amount, and the Benefit Estimator estimates the benefit from your earnings. Once you know your benefit, the Break-Even Calculator shows the age at which waiting pays more in total. If you plan to keep working after you claim, the Earnings Test Calculator shows how much is withheld before full retirement age and how it is paid back later.
Spousal, Survivor, and Divorced-Spouse Benefits
If you are married, widowed, or divorced after a marriage of at least 10 years, you may be eligible for a benefit on another person's earnings record, in place of your own or in addition to it. A spousal benefit can be up to 50% of the other spouse's benefit at full retirement age. A survivor benefit can be up to 100% of what the deceased spouse was receiving. SSA pays your own benefit first and adds to it if the spousal or survivor amount is higher, so applying does not put your own benefit at risk.
The rules depend on remarriage, timing, and whether the other person has claimed. The Spousal Benefit Calculator, Survivor Benefit Calculator and Divorced Spouse Benefit Eligibility Checker each cover the eligibility rules for one situation. If you or your spouse receive a pension from government work not covered by Social Security, the Government Pension Offset that used to reduce these benefits was repealed in 2025. See our explainer if you never filed a claim because of the offset.
SSDI and SSI: Two Different Programs, Often Confused
Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is an earned benefit. It is based on your work history and payroll taxes, and it converts to a retirement benefit at full retirement age. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a separate needs-based program paid from general tax revenue. It has strict income and asset limits and requires no work history. Some people qualify for both. Our SSDI Eligibility Checker and SSI Eligibility & Payment Estimator follow each program's rules.
COLA and Taxation: What Happens After You're Already Receiving Benefits
Benefits are adjusted most years for inflation through the Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA), set annually based on consumer price index data. The COLA Calculator shows how a given year's adjustment changes your specific payment.
Social Security benefits can also be subject to federal income tax, depending on your total income. Many retirees assume the benefit is tax-free. The Is Social Security Taxable? Calculator uses the IRS combined-income formula to show whether your benefit is likely to be taxed and how much of it.
Does Your Total Income Cover Your Expenses?
Once Social Security, any pension and planned withdrawals from savings are added up, do they cover what you will spend? The Retirement Income Gap Calculator compares your income with your expenses by category, alongside national spending data for households 65 and older, so you can see which categories cause a gap.
Every Social Security Tool
Related Reading
Are Your Social Security Benefits Being Taxed?
Your total income decides this, not your benefit amount alone. The federal formula, and which states still tax benefits.
Read more → Tax & Social SecurityWill Social Security Benefits Be Cut?
What the trust fund projections say, and what depletion would mean for benefits.
Read more → Tax & Social SecurityWEP and GPO Are Repealed
The repeal is over a year old. The dispute over retroactive pay for people who never filed is not settled.
Read more → Tax & Social SecurityThe Payment Schedule Explained
Why it can look like you got paid twice in one month, and nothing the next.
Read more → Tax & Social SecurityThe Earnings Test's First-Year Rule
A monthly rule protects your first checks if you retire partway through the year.
Read more →Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between full retirement age and when I can first claim?
You can claim as early as 62, but your benefit is permanently reduced for every month before your full retirement age (66-67 depending on birth year). Waiting past full retirement age, up to 70, permanently increases it instead.
Can I get Social Security and SSI or SSDI at the same time?
SSDI is Social Security's own disability benefit, so it can't be combined with retirement benefits before full retirement age (SSDI converts to a retirement benefit at that point). SSI is a separate, needs-based program and can sometimes be paid alongside a low Social Security benefit if your income and resources are low enough.
Do spousal and survivor benefits reduce my own benefit?
No. If you're eligible for both your own retirement benefit and a spousal or survivor benefit, the SSA pays your own benefit first and adds the difference if the spousal or survivor amount is higher. You don't lose your own benefit by having access to the other.
Is Social Security taxed?
It can be, at the federal level, depending on your combined income (adjusted gross income, nontaxable interest, and half your benefits). Up to 85% of benefits can be taxable. Most states no longer tax Social Security, but a handful still do.
This page is for general educational purposes and is not affiliated with the Social Security Administration. The figures in our calculators come from official SSA publications. See our Data Sources page for details.