Primary Insurance Amount · 90/32/15 Formula · 2026 Bend Points
Social Security PIA Calculator
Every Social Security benefit starts with one number: the primary insurance amount. This tool turns your average indexed monthly earnings (AIME) into your PIA using the official 2026 formula - 90% of the first $1,286, 32% through $7,749, and 15% above - and shows what that means at 62, at full retirement age, and at 70.
Benefit Formula Inputs
The year you turn 62 (or become disabled or die before 62). That year's bend points are locked in for you.
Your AIME comes from your highest 35 years of indexed earnings. The estimator is a simplified stand-in.
The 2026 maximum-earnings worker has an AIME of $14,358. Check your earnings record at ssa.gov/myaccount.
A career-average salary in today's dollars. Earnings above the taxable maximum ($184,500 in 2026) never count.
SSA averages your highest 35 years. Fewer than 35 years means zero years are averaged in and pull the AIME down.
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Enter your AIME (or estimate it from earnings) to see your PIA and the formula breakdown
PIA Result
Estimates the primary insurance amount from AIME using the SSA benefit formula (90/32/15 percent at the bend points for the selected eligibility year, rounded down to the next lower ten cents). The AIME estimator treats earnings as a flat career average in today's dollars and does not index actual year-by-year earnings. Age-62 and age-70 figures assume a full retirement age of 67 and exclude cost-of-living adjustments and the final whole-dollar rounding. Educational estimate only.
Want the full story behind the number - how AIME is built from your 35 best years, why the formula favors lower earners, and how COLAs and claiming age change the check? Read the companion guide.
Your primary insurance amount (PIA) is your Social Security benefit at full retirement age. For a worker first eligible in 2026 it equals 90% of the first $1,286 of average indexed monthly earnings, plus 32% of AIME between $1,286 and $7,749, plus 15% of AIME above $7,749, rounded down to the next lower ten cents. AIME is your highest 35 years of wage-indexed earnings divided by 420 months. The formula is progressive: a low earner's PIA replaces up to 90% of AIME, while the 2026 maximum earner (AIME $14,358) gets $4,216.90 - about 29%. Claiming at 62 cuts the check about 30% below the PIA; waiting to 70 adds 24%.
Key Takeaways
2026 PIA bend points: $1,286 and $7,749 (2025: $1,226 and $7,391), set by the national average wage index.
The three percentages never change: 90%, 32%, and 15% are fixed by law (Social Security Act §215(a)(1)(A)).
AIME = your highest 35 years of indexed earnings divided by 420, rounded down to the next lower dollar.
Fewer than 35 working years hurts: missing years enter the average as zeros.
The PIA is rounded down to the next lower multiple of ten cents.
Your bend points are locked at eligibility - the year you turn 62 - even if you claim later.
PIA is not your check: minus about 30% at 62, plus 24% at 70 (FRA 67), plus COLAs from the eligibility year (2.8% for 2026).
Social Security computes every retirement benefit in the same four steps. This tool follows the formula SSA's Office of the Chief Actuary publishes, and its output matches SSA's own 2026 worked example to the cent. For the complete walk-through, see the Social Security Benefit Formula Guide.
Step 1: Build the AIME SSA
SSA indexes each year of your earnings to national wage growth (earnings in the year you turn 60 and later count at face value), selects your highest 35 years, adds them up, and divides by 420 - the number of months in 35 years. The result, rounded down to the next lower dollar, is your average indexed monthly earnings.
Step 2: Look Up Your Bend Points SSA
The formula splits your AIME at two dollar thresholds called bend points. Your bend points come from the year you first become eligible - the year you turn 62 - and stay locked even if you keep working or claim later. For 2026 eligibility they are $1,286 and $7,749; for 2025, $1,226 and $7,391.
Step 3: Apply 90% / 32% / 15% SSA
The PIA is 90% of AIME up to the first bend point, plus 32% of AIME between the bend points, plus 15% of AIME above the second bend point, rounded down to the next lower multiple of ten cents. The percentages are fixed by law; only the bend-point dollars move each year with the national average wage index.
Step 4: Adjust for When You Claim SSA
The PIA is the benefit at full retirement age. Claiming at 62 with an FRA of 67 reduces the check about 30%; each month past FRA adds delayed-retirement credit worth 8% per year up to age 70 (+24%). Cost-of-living adjustments are applied starting with the year you become eligible - the 2026 COLA is 2.8% - whether or not you have claimed. Time the claim with the Social Security Break-Even Calculator.
2026 and 2025 PIA Bend Points
The PIA Benefit Formula (SSA)
AIME slice
2026 bend point
2025 bend point
Percentage
First slice of AIME
up to $1,286
up to $1,226
90%
Middle slice of AIME
$1,286 to $7,749
$1,226 to $7,391
32%
Remainder of AIME
over $7,749
over $7,391
15%
2026 maximum-earner anchor
AIME $14,358
PIA $4,216.90
The 2026 bend points were computed by SSA from the 1979 base amounts ($180 and $1,085) indexed by the ratio of the 2024 average wage index ($69,846.57) to the 1977 index ($9,779.44). The same page publishes the maximum-earner example this calculator is verified against.
Worked Examples
Example 1 - SSA's official 2026 maximum earner (AIME $14,358)
90% of first $1,286$1,157.40
32% of $1,286 to $7,749 ($6,463)$2,068.16
15% over $7,749 ($6,609)$991.35
PIA (rounded down to 10¢)$4,216.90
Example 2 - Mid-career earner: AIME $6,000 (2026)
90% of $1,286 + 32% of $4,714$1,157.40 + $1,508.48
PIA at full retirement age$2,665.80
At 62 (-30%) / at 70 (+24%), FRA 67$1,866.06 / $3,305.59
Example 3 - Low earner: AIME $1,200 (2026)
Entire AIME inside the 90% bracket90% replacement
PIA$1,080.00
Example 4 - Estimator: $65,000 average pay, full 35-year career (2026)
Estimated AIME ($65,000 x 35 ÷ 420)$5,416
PIA$2,479.00
Example 5 - Same pay, only 25 working years (2026)
Estimated AIME (10 zero years averaged in)$3,869
PIA (vs $2,479.00 with 35 years)$1,983.90
Practitioner Insight (LMN Tax Inc.)
LMN Tax Inc. - Planning Notes
The PIA is the number everything else hangs from, yet almost nobody knows theirs. Clients can quote their expected check at 62 from the SSA statement, but not the PIA behind it - which means they cannot see that the spousal benefit their husband or wife may claim is 50% of the PIA, not 50% of the reduced check. Getting the PIA on the table first makes every downstream conversation - claiming age, spousal, survivor, family maximum - dramatically clearer.
The 35-year rule is the quietest big lever in the system. A client with 31 years of earnings has four zeros in the average, and every extra year worked replaces a zero, not a low year - the AIME jump is much bigger than people expect. Conversely, a high earner working a 36th year replaces a low indexed year at the margin, and the gain is often trivial. We run both cases through the formula before anyone assumes "one more year" is worth it.
Watch the second bend point. Earnings that push AIME above $7,749 are replaced at only 15 cents on the dollar, so late-career income spikes move the benefit far less than clients hope. That is not a reason to stop earning - but it is a reason not to defer a retirement date purely to grow a benefit that is already deep in the 15% bracket.
Finally, remember the bend points are locked at 62 but the COLAs start then too. A client who turned 62 in 2026 and waits to 70 does not lose the 2.8% COLA or the ones after it - they compound on the PIA in the background. The "wait and it grows 8% a year" story is really 8% plus COLAs, which is why delayed claiming looks better in dollars than most people's mental math suggests.
When This Calculator Does Not Cover Your Situation
The AIME estimator is a simplification. It treats your career as a flat average salary in today's dollars. SSA indexes each actual year separately and takes the highest 35 - a rising career, gap years, or earnings over the taxable maximum will make the real AIME differ. Use your Social Security Statement at ssa.gov/myaccount for the real number.
Disability and survivor eligibility years. Eligibility is the year you turn 62 or become disabled or die before 62. A worker disabled in 2026 uses the 2026 bend points even at age 45; disability computations may also use fewer than 35 computation years.
Eligibility before 2025. This tool carries the 2026 and 2025 bend points. If you turned 62 earlier, your PIA uses that year's bend points plus every COLA since - your Social Security Statement already reflects this.
The Windfall Elimination Provision no longer applies. WEP formerly replaced the 90% factor for workers with pensions from non-covered government work. The Social Security Fairness Act repealed WEP and GPO, and SSA has adjusted affected benefits - so this calculator's standard formula now applies to those workers too.
Special minimum PIA and old-law computations. A small number of long-career, low-wage workers use the special minimum table, and some pre-1979 eligibility cases use older formulas.
Final rounding and COLAs. SSA rounds the payable check down to a whole dollar after reductions, credits, and COLAs. This tool reports the formula PIA in cents and does not compound COLAs forward.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Social Security PIA?
The primary insurance amount (PIA) is the monthly benefit a worker would receive by starting retirement benefits at full retirement age - with no reduction for claiming early and no delayed-retirement credit. Every other benefit on the record is built from it: spousal and children's benefits are percentages of the PIA, and the worker's own check is the PIA adjusted for the age it starts.
How is the PIA calculated in 2026?
For a worker who becomes eligible in 2026 (turns 62, or becomes disabled or dies before 62), the PIA equals 90% of the first $1,286 of average indexed monthly earnings, plus 32% of AIME between $1,286 and $7,749, plus 15% of AIME above $7,749, rounded down to the next lower multiple of ten cents. The dollar thresholds are the PIA bend points, which change most years with the national average wage index; the three percentages are fixed by law.
What is AIME and where do I find mine?
AIME - average indexed monthly earnings - summarizes your career: Social Security indexes each year's earnings to reflect wage growth, takes your highest 35 years of indexed earnings, divides the total by the number of months in those years (420), and rounds down to the next lower dollar. Your earnings record and benefit estimates are on your Social Security Statement at ssa.gov/myaccount.
Why does Social Security replace more income for lower earners?
The formula is deliberately progressive. Earnings in the first bracket are replaced at 90%, the middle bracket at 32%, and the top bracket at only 15%. A worker with a $1,200 AIME gets a PIA equal to 90% of it, while the 2026 maximum-earnings worker (AIME $14,358) gets a PIA of $4,216.90 - about 29% of AIME. Higher earners receive larger dollar benefits but a smaller share of their pre-retirement earnings.
Is the PIA the amount I will actually receive?
Only if you start benefits exactly at full retirement age. Claiming at 62 with a full retirement age of 67 cuts the check 30% below the PIA; waiting to 70 raises it 24% above the PIA through delayed-retirement credits. Cost-of-living adjustments are added starting with the year you become eligible at 62, and the final payment is rounded down to a whole dollar.
What is the maximum PIA in 2026?
SSA's published example for a worker with maximum taxable earnings every year since age 22 who turns 62 in 2026 shows an AIME of $14,358 and a PIA of $4,216.90. That is the practical ceiling of the 2026 formula for a newly eligible worker; the actual check can be higher than the PIA if the worker waits past full retirement age and earns delayed-retirement credits.
What to Do Next
Pull Your Real Numbers First
Download your Social Security Statement at ssa.gov/myaccount and check the earnings record behind your AIME - missing or zero years are the most common reason a benefit comes in low. Then read the Benefit Formula Guide to see each step in detail.
Turn the PIA Into a Claiming Decision
Your PIA is the anchor; the claiming age moves the check 30% down or 24% up around it. Compare 62 vs FRA vs 70 with the Break-Even Calculator and the Claiming Age Guide.
SSA - Primary Insurance Amount - The 2026 PIA formula: 90% / 32% / 15% at the $1,286 and $7,749 bend points, rounded down to the next lower ten cents, and the bend-point computation from the average wage index.
SSA - Benefit Formula Bend Points - The historical table of PIA bend points, including 2025 ($1,226 / $7,391) and 2026 ($1,286 / $7,749).
SSA - Social Security Benefit Amounts - The AIME definition (highest 35 years of indexed earnings, divided by total months, rounded down to the next lower dollar) and the 2026 maximum-earner example (AIME $14,358, PIA $4,216.90).
SSA - Retirement Benefit Calculation Examples - Year-by-year indexing factors (average wage index of the age-60 year divided by each earlier year's index) and the highest-35 selection.
Disclaimer: This calculator provides estimates for educational purposes only and does not constitute tax, legal, or financial advice. It applies the SSA primary insurance amount formula (90% / 32% / 15% of AIME at the bend points for the selected eligibility year - 2026: $1,286 / $7,749; 2025: $1,226 / $7,391 - rounded down to the next lower ten cents). The AIME estimator is a simplified flat-average stand-in and does not index actual year-by-year earnings. Age-62 and age-70 figures assume a full retirement age of 67 and exclude cost-of-living adjustments, the earnings test, and SSA's final whole-dollar rounding. Your official computation may use different eligibility years or special rules. Confirm your figures at ssa.gov/myaccount or 1-800-772-1213 and consult a qualified professional before relying on these amounts.