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<\/a>What the Average Retiree Collects, from 62 to 90<\/p>\nThe table above draws from the SSA\u2019s December 2025 snapshot of more than 53 million retired-worker beneficiaries currently getting checks, with separate averages by gender.<\/p>\n
Benefits<\/a> rise after 62 because of the difference in claiming age. But after 70, average benefits decline for different reasons: generational earnings patterns. Men and women show major differences throughout. At 62, men average $1,573 a month, and women average $1,286, a $287 monthly gap. By 70, that gap has widened to $506 ($2,530 for men, $2,024 for women).<\/p>\n Social Security\u2019s benefit formula treats all workers the same. So why the differences across genders? They reflect earnings differences over careers, not the benefits formula itself. The fewer years worked or lower wages during your career mean a lower benefit check. The gap has narrowed as women have been working and earning more, but continuing wage differences<\/a> between men and women mean it won\u2019t close anytime soon.<\/p>\n Note<\/p>\n Only about 4% of Americans wait until 70 to claim Social Security, according to the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, even though doing so locks in the largest possible monthly check for life.<\/p>\n Why Benefits Rise Until 70 and Fall After<\/p>\n SSA calculates your benefit based on the 35 years when you earned the most, adjusted for inflation. Your full retirement age (FRA)<\/a> is the point at which you collect 100% of that benefit amount. For anyone born in 1960 or later, the FRA is now 67, a milestone that took effect in 2026 as the final step in a 42-year shift to increase the retirement age.<\/p>\n If you begin claiming Social Security before your FRA, the SSA permanently reduces your check. File at 62, and your FRA is reduced 30%. But if you were born after 1960 and wait until after your FRA, you get a permanent benefit increase, about 8% for each full year you delay, up to age 70. Someone born after 1960 who claims at 62 receives 70% of their full benefit; the same person waiting until 70 collects 124%.<\/p>\n After you turn 70, delayed retirement credits for Social Security<\/a> stop being added, so waiting even longer adds nothing to your benefit checks.<\/p>\n The 15% surge in new Social Security claims in 2025 coincided with rising anxiety about the program\u2019s solvency. A June 2025 AARP poll found that more than a third of respondents believed Social Security would stop paying entirely if the trust fund ran dry. But that\u2019s not how the system works.\u00a0Under the worst-case projected scenario, if there\u2019s no legislative action, benefits would be reduced by about 20%<\/a>, not eliminated.<\/p>\n The Urban Institute, which tracked the claims surge, found it extends even to higher earners \u2014 the people best positioned to wait.<\/p>\n Reasons why those who can afford to wait aren\u2019t doing so could be that getting a smaller check now feels safer than a larger one that might be cut later. But claiming at 62 instead of 70<\/a> costs the average retiree $851 a month. Over 20 years of retirement, before COLA adjustments, that\u2019s more than $204,000.<\/p>\n Whether an earlier, smaller check makes more sense depends on your health and financial need. But the data is clear about the trade-off\u2014a $851 gap that will only grow with each annual cost-of-living adjustment.<\/p>\n<\/a>A Rush to Claim Early<\/p>\n