Social Security for people born in 1961
Your formula was written in a year of unusually fast wage growth, and Medicare arrives before Social Security does.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
If you were born in 1961 (January 2, 1961 to January 1, 1962), you turned 62 in 2023, so your primary insurance amount uses the 2023 bend points, $1,115 and $6,721. Those amounts jumped 8.9% over 2022 because they follow the national average wage index of 2021, which rose 8.9% to 60,575.07; your own earnings were indexed to that same 2021 level. You missed the 8.7% COLA of December 2022, which went only to people eligible by 2022, but received the three increases since: 3.2%, 2.5% and 2.8%. Full retirement age is 67, in 2028; the survivor full age is 66 and 10 months. In 2026 you turn 65, the Medicare age, while any Social Security started now is still reduced for age. A career at $60,000 in today's pay gives a PIA of $2,214.00.
Your formula year and the COLAs stacked on it
PIA in 2026, all COLAs included
$2,214.80
| Formula year (turned 62) | 2022 |
| Bend points of that year | $1,024 and $6,172 |
| PIA in the formula year | $1,873.90 |
| COLAs 2022 to 2025 | +18.2% |
COLAs count from the year you turn 62, even if you have not claimed yet.
Indexed to a year of wage surge
Each cohort's earnings are scaled to the average wage of the year it turns 60. For 1961 births that year was 2021, when the national average wage index rose from 55,628.60 to 60,575.07. The bend points of 2023, built from the same index, rose in step (SSA bend point history). The effect is that an earnings record of the 1990s and 2000s is worth more in 1961 dollars than in 1960 dollars.
1960 against 1961: two paths to the same check
The table runs identical careers, expressed in today's pay, through both formula years. The 1960 cohort starts lower and catches up with the 8.7% COLA; the 1961 cohort starts higher with the 2023 formula and receives only the adjustments from December 2023.
| Career pay (today's dollars) | Born 1960: PIA 2022 | Born 1960: PIA 2026 | Born 1961: PIA 2023 | Born 1961: PIA 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $30,000 | $1,232.60 | $1,456.70 | $1,341.40 | $1,458.60 |
| $50,000 | $1,658.20 | $1,959.80 | $1,804.70 | $1,962.30 |
| $75,000 | $2,190.70 | $2,589.20 | $2,383.60 | $2,591.70 |
| $120,000 | $2,840.70 | $3,357.60 | $3,092.00 | $3,362.10 |
The near tie is not an accident. Bend points follow wages and COLAs follow prices; in 2021 and 2022 both rose fast, one feeding the 1961 formula, the other the 1960 benefits. The bend points guide shows the full series.
Medicare first, full Social Security in 2028
At 65, in 2026, you can enroll in Medicare (SSA, when to sign up for Medicare). Full retirement age comes two years later, so a retirement benefit started this year is reduced by 13.3% if it starts at exactly 65. The two decisions are separate. The premium question is covered on Medicare premium deducted from Social Security.
A widow or widower born in 1961 reaches the survivor full age at 66 and 10 months, two months before the retirement one; survivor benefits are available from 60, which this cohort reached in 2021.
Collecting at 65 while still employed
Anyone in this cohort who starts benefits in 2026 and keeps a job is under the retirement earnings test for the full year: $24,480 of wages are free, then half of the excess is withheld. On a $40,000 salary, that means $7,760 held back over the year. The withheld months are not lost; at 67 the benefit is recalculated to credit them.