How Much Social Security Benefits Do You Get? How to Find Out
Estimating your Social Security income is an important part of preparing for retirement. It’s essential to know exactly how much money you’ll receive each month in your Social Security checks. The good news is that you can easily find out with a free online tool from the Social Security Administration.
The My Social Security web portal is your central place for everything you need to know about your benefits, if you want to make adjustments or if you want to request documents relating to your taxes and other important information.
Below, we’ll show you how to apply, see your eligibility for benefits, and estimate your potential monthly payments. For everything you need to know about Social Security, check out our Social Security and SSDI cheat sheet.
How do I estimate my social security benefits?
To see all of your Social Security benefits, you’ll need to sign up for a My Social Security account. Note: If you’ve already signed up for a login.gov or ID.me account, you can skip the next steps and simply log in to your account. If you’ve never signed up for either of these services before, here’s what you’ll need to do.
- Go to the login.gov login page.
- Tap on the Create an account tab and enter your email address and your preferred language, then click submit.
- You will be asked to verify your email address on the next screen. You can also request to have the verification email resent or change the email address.
- Please check your email and see if there is a Confirm your email address from login.gov. Click the Confirm Email Address button to return to the website.
- Create a password for your account now. The password must be at least 12 characters.
- Next, you’ll need to set up two-factor authentication. You can use an authenticator app, text or phone call, backup codes, a physical security key, or a government employee ID. Follow the steps to set up your chosen authentication method and click Continue.
- Now that your login.gov account has been created, you can use it to: log in to the My Social Security portal.
In the next steps, you will link your login.gov account to the My Social Security portal. There, you will accept the terms of service and enter your information to confirm your identity.
How to find your social security entitlement and income
Once you’ve completed the setup process, you’ll have access to your My Social Security dashboard. But before you can begin estimating your monthly benefits, you’ll need to make sure you qualify.
The Social Security Administration determines your eligibility based on the number of “work credits” you have. To qualify for Social Security benefits, you generally need 40 work credits, and you can earn up to four per working year. Work credits are earned over the course of your working life, so if you don’t have 40, you can’t get an estimate of your monthly benefit until you do.
Another important part of this section is the ability to view your full income statement. It shows all the years you worked, along with the taxable income for each of those years.
It is best to take the time to look back at your annual tax returns to confirm that the figures are correct. If your records are missing a year of employment or have incorrect income for a period, you may not receive all the benefits you are entitled to. If you find a discrepancy, you can request a correction of your records.
How to Estimate Your Monthly Social Security Checks
Just below the Eligibility & Earnings section of your dashboard is the Retirement Calculator. The calculator will give you an estimate of your monthly benefit, based on whether you retire early at age 62, begin taking benefits at your normal retirement age (67 for those born in 1960 or later), or wait to collect your maximum benefit when you turn 70. If you decide to take your benefits early, you will receive less than if you wait until your normal retirement age.
The calculator makes it easy to run different benefit scenarios to see how much you can expect to receive per month based on the age at which you begin receiving your benefits. You can fine-tune your retirement age or date, your average future salary, and compare your benefits to those of a spouse. Any adjustments you make in the calculator are automatically added to an estimate table below, so you can easily print or save the information.
What else can you do with a My Social Security account?
In addition to viewing your benefits, you can also process other applications through your account.
- Replace your Social Security card.
- View or print your proof of benefit letter.
- Start or check the status of your pension application.
- Start or check the status of your application for Social Security disability insurance.
- Report your wages if you are currently working and receiving SSDI.
- Calculate a benefit for your current or former partner.
Want to learn more about social security? Read why 70,000 people lose their social security benefits each year and read our overview of social security and SSDI.
