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Your Social Security benefit depends on your earnings history and your age at sign-up.
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Delaying Social Security by even one month can permanently increase your benefit.
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Those already claiming may be able to suspend benefits to help increase their checks.
You probably can’t imagine life without Social Security, and yet, even with its regular monthly checks, it’s not always easy to make ends meet. The average monthly benefit as of March 2025 was just $1,997 for retired workers.
Cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) will give you a little more cash over time. But there’s another way you can boost your benefits — and it could raise the average check by $160 per month.
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You’ve probably heard that your Social Security benefit is based on your income during your working years, but it’s not the whole truth. Your earnings history determines your primary insurance amount (PIA). That’s the amount you receive if you sign up at your full retirement age (FRA) — 67 for most workers today.
You can sign up at any time between 62 and 70, though. Signing up under your FRA reduces your PIA substantially. If you have an FRA of 67, you’ll only get 70% of your PIA per check by applying right away at 62.
Put another way, your checks increase for every month you delay Social Security. This continues until you qualify for your maximum benefit at 70. The rate of increase picks up over time. The table shows how quickly your benefits grow if you have an FRA of 67:
|
Benefits Increase by |
From |
|---|---|
|
Five-twelfths of 1% per month (5% per year) |
62 to 64 |
|
Five-ninths of 1% per month (6.67% per year) |
64 to 67 |
|
Two-thirds of 1% per month (8% per year) |
67 to 70 |
Data source: Social Security Administration.
If you wait one year to apply for benefits, you can add 5% to 8% to your checks. That would add anywhere from $100 to $160 to each check if you qualified for the $1,997 average monthly benefit.
Of course, doing this means you have to forego Social Security checks for a year. That’s not always doable. You may be able to pull it off if you have a lot of personal savings, or you’re still working. But if you’re in a financial bind, that might not be an option. However, you may still be able to delay benefits a month or two to enjoy a smaller benefit bump.
Delaying Social Security also may not make sense if you have a short life expectancy. You may get a larger lifetime benefit by signing up early in this case.
