How do i find out my monthly social security benefits

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You, or Your Family Members, May Be Eligible for Increased Benefits
Related Information
Online Benefits Calculator (En español)
Retirement Planning

You, or Your Family Members, May Be Eligible for Increased Benefits

Our mission is to deliver Social Security services that meet the changing needs of the public.

It's not unusual for a benefit recipient's circumstances to change after they apply or became eligible for benefits. If you, or a family member, receive Social Security or Supplemental Security Income (SSI), certain life changes may affect eligibility for an increase in your federal benefits. For example, if your spouse or ex-spouse dies, you may become eligible for a higher Social Security benefit.

To find out if you, or a family member, might be eligible for a benefit based on another person’s work, or a higher benefit based on your own work, see the information about benefits on the Social Security website. You can also use the Benefit Eligibility Screening Tool (BEST) to find out if you could get benefits that Social Security administers. Based on your answers to questions, this tool will list benefits for which you might be eligible and tell you more information about how to qualify and apply.

The questions and answers below are about a few of the life changes that could possibly increase your benefits.

Has your spouse or ex-spouse died?

If your spouse or ex-spouse has died, you may be eligible for a higher survivor benefit based on his or her work. The death of an ex-spouse may allow you to be eligible for a higher survivor benefit even if you are already receiving a survivor benefit on another spouse.

IMPORTANT: If you are receiving benefits, there are certain life events that you are required to report. For a complete list, please select the publication below that applies to the type of benefits you receive.

NOTE: Failure to report a change may result in an overpayment.

What You Need To Know When You Get Retirement Or Survivors Benefits

What You Need To Know When You Get Social Security Disability Benefits
(Pages 11-18)

What You Need To Know When You Get Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
(Pages 7-19)

Contacting Social Security

Our website is a valuable resource for information about all of Social Security's programs. There are a number of things you can do online.

In addition to using our website, you can call us toll-free at 1-800-772-1213. We treat all calls confidentially. We can answer specific questions from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday. Generally, you’ll have a shorter wait time if you call during the week after Tuesday. We can provide information by automated phone service 24 hours a day. (You can use our automated response system to tell us a new address or request a replacement Medicare card.) If you are deaf or hard of hearing, you may call our TTY number, 1-800-325-0778.

We also want to make sure you receive accurate and courteous service. That is why we have a second Social Security representative monitor some telephone calls.

Retirement Planner
Disability Planner
Survivors' Planner

Online Benefits Calculator (En español)

The Online Calculator below allows you to estimate your Social Security benefit. To use the Online Calculator, you need to enter all your earnings from your online Social Security Statement.

If you have a personal my Social Security account, you can get an estimate of your future retirement benefits and see the effects of different retirement age scenarios. If you don’t have a personal my Social Security account, create one at www.ssa.gov/myaccount.

If you receive a pension that is based on work not covered by Social Security, (e.g. federal, state, or local government employees) it may reduce the amount of benefits we can pay you. Please use the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) version of the Online Calculator to estimate your benefits. If you are eligible for benefits as a spouse, widow, or widower our Government Pension Offset (GPO) Calculator, can tell you how your benefits may be affected. Also, if you begin receiving benefits before your full retirement age (FRA), your benefits will be reduced. Find your FRA with our Retirement Age Calculator.

Please Note:

The Online Calculator is updated periodically* with new benefit increases and other benefit amounts. Therefore, it is likely that your benefit estimates in the future will differ from those calculated today.
The Online Calculator works on PCs and Macs with Javascript enabled.
Some browsers may not allow you to print the table below.

*The most recent calculator update was in July 2022.

The Online Calculator temporarily stores information on your local computer while your browser is open. To protect your personal information, you should close your browser after you have finished your estimate.

To protect your records from unauthorized users, the Online Calculator is not linked to your record of earnings in our database. Instead, we ask you to insert your earnings in the calculator. Keep in mind that it’s easier and faster to get your estimate by creating a personal my Social Security account, that links your earnings record directly from our database.

Note: If your birthday is on January 1st, we figure your benefit as if your birthday was in the previous year.

If you qualify for benefits as a Survivor, your full retirement age for survivors benefits may be different.

Date of birth

Enter your date of birth as month, day, and year, separated by slashes. (Example: If you were born on May 7, 1950, enter 5/7/1950.)

Age at retirement

Enter the age in years and months at which you plan to stop working. Your earnings are assumed to stop at that age.

Note: This calculator will accept a stop-work age up to 85. If the age you enter is less than 62, we estimate your benefit at age 62. If the age you enter is at least 62, we use that age when we estimate your benefit.

years and months

Today's dollars or future dollars

Your estimated benefit is shown in today's dollars, unless you choose to have it shown in future (inflated) dollars. If you choose future (inflated) dollars, the calculator bases the results on our estimates of how inflation could affect your benefit amount. (Use caution when using inflated dollar estimates to determine other retirement income sources you may need.)

Earnings in 2022

Enter the amount you expect to earn in 2022.

Earnings in 2023 and later

Enter the amount you expect to earn in 2023. The calculator will use this same amount of earnings for each future year up to the year you expect to stop working.

Calculate

Press this button when you have entered all your information. Your estimated monthly benefits will be presented below.

Retirement Planning

If you have an estimate of your monthly Social Security retirement benefit (in future, inflated dollars), you can use the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), Ballpark E$timate Online, to get a basic idea of how much you need to save before you retire.

Note: If your Online Calculator retirement benefit estimate is in "today's dollars," you can still use the Online Calculator. Just go back to "Today's dollars or future dollars," select "future (inflated) dollars" and press the "Calculate Benefit" button to update your estimate.