Most people don’t claim at the age that maximizes their lifetime benefits — and that gap is exactly why a break-even calculator is so useful.
What the data shows:
- Few wait until 70. In a 2025 Schroders survey of about 1,500 adults, only around 10% planned to wait until 70, while roughly 44% expected to claim before full retirement age.
- Claiming at 62 is still common but falling. Based on 2022 SSA data, roughly one in four new claimants started at exactly 62 — a share that has declined steadily over two decades.
- The average claiming age has risen. It climbed to about 65.2 for both men and women in 2023, up from roughly 63.8–64.0 in 1998, according to SSA statistical data and the Center for Retirement Research.
- The stakes are large. One widely cited analysis estimated that claiming early can cost a typical retiree on the order of $182,000 in lifetime benefits foregone — though “lifetime benefits” assumes you live to or past the break-even age.
Why this matters for your decision: Averages aren’t advice. Many people claim early out of genuine financial need or because of health concerns — both perfectly valid reasons. The break-even number simply tells you the trade-off in dollars so you can weigh it against everything else.