James Brumley, The Motley Fool

Sun, Jun 15, 2025, 5:30 AM6 min read

• People can claim Social Security retirement benefits as early as 62 years of age.

• Note that each year you wait adds to your eventual monthly benefit.

• The average 65-year-old’s monthly payment is not enough to live on by itself.

• The $23,760 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook ›

If you haven't yet, at what age do you think you'll retire? Most people say the magic number is 65. The actual average retirement age for people living in the United States, however, is a modestly lower 63. That's shortly after they're able to begin collecting respectable but reduced retirement benefits from Social Security.

Just for the sake of acknowledging the current cost of living, though, let's say you're going to continue working until you reach your goal of 65 years of age. How much are your monthly Social Security payments likely to be then?

Keep reading for the answer, and some important perspective on the matter.

The Social Security Administration reports that as of the end of last year, the average 65-year-old was enjoying a monthly benefit of $1,611. Applying this year's cost-of-living adjustment of 2.5% would put the figure closer to $1,651 per month now.

Just bear in mind that that's an average based on a wide range of inputs. Some of this crowd may be banking on the order of $4,000 per month. Other people are seeing monthly payments of less than $1,000.

Still, the average is the average. This relatively small figure begs a big question... is there a way to make the number any bigger? There is.

First, understand that any 65-year-old currently collecting any non-disability-related Social Security has already opted for a slightly smaller payment by virtue of filing for benefits before reaching their intended full retirement age, or FRA. (For people born in or after 1960 your FRA is 67, while for people born in or before 1959 it's a few months less, gradually scaling back to the previous FRA of 66.)

The difference isn't insignificant, either. Even claiming just two years early reduces your monthly payment to the tune of 13% -- give or take -- depending on when you were born. Putting that in more tangible terms, for the average recipient, the difference in waiting until reaching your full retirement age of 67 would mean a little over $200 more per month. Not bad.

For what it's worth, waiting another three years to claim benefits when you turn 70 would make your monthly benefit about 25% bigger than it would be if filing at your official full retirement age. That would mean roughly an additional $500 more per month in today's dollars for today's retirees.