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SS Bend Points

AIME $6,000 → PIA $2,665.80. The exact SSA math, not a black box.

Most Social Security calculators are black boxes — this one runs the statute. Enter your AIME (your SSA statement shows it) and watch the 2026 bend-point formula produce your exact Primary Insurance Amount: 90% of the first $1,286, 32% up to $7,749, 15% above, rounded down to the dime. Then see what claiming at 62 versus 70 does to the same earnings record — a 77% difference.

Why people use this

Anyone within a decade of claiming uses it to see the statute itself: AIME through the 2026 bend points ($1,286/$7,749), rounded down to the dime, then the exact −30% to +24% swing between claiming at 62 and 70 — the number the SSA estimator shows without the formula.

How it works

  1. Enter your AIME — Average Indexed Monthly Earnings — from your my Social Security statement (rough proxy: average career salary ÷ 12).
  2. See the three bands of the 2026 formula applied separately.
  3. Pick a claiming age to apply the exact early-reduction or delayed-credit factor.
  4. Compare 62, full retirement age, and 70 side by side.

Common questions

How is my Social Security benefit actually calculated?

Three steps. SSA indexes your 35 highest-earning years and averages them into AIME (missing years count as zero). Then the bend-point formula: for those turning 62 in 2026, PIA = 90% of the first $1,286 of AIME + 32% of AIME between $1,286 and $7,749 + 15% above $7,749, rounded down to the nearest dime. Example: AIME $6,000 → $1,157.40 + $1,508.40 = PIA $2,665.80. Finally your claiming age adjusts it: at 62 you get $1,866 (−30%), at 70 you get $3,305.59 (+24%).

What are the 2026 bend points, and when do they lock?

$1,286 and $7,749 for workers first eligible in 2026 (the year you turn 62) — up from $1,226 and $7,391 for 2025 eligibility. They are set by your year of first eligibility and locked for life; later COLAs adjust the benefit itself instead. The 2026 maximum possible PIA is $4,216.90 (AIME $14,358 — a full career at the taxable maximum, which is $184,500 of earnings in 2026).

Why do lower earners get a better deal from Social Security?

The formula is progressive by design: the 90% first band means an AIME of $2,000 gets 69.3% of income replaced, while AIME $8,000 replaces only 40.8%. High earners still get larger checks in dollars, but a smaller share of what they paid in. This is also why the 15% top band exists — and why proposals to fix the trust fund often target that band's bend point rather than the 90% band that shields low earners.

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