When calculating your monthly benefits, Social Security uses a specific formula that takes your 35 highest-paid years of income into account. You can qualify for Social Security with a shorter work history, but for each year you're missing income within your top 35, you'll have a $0 factored into your benefits calculation.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) makes anonymized benefit data available to the public to support research and promote transparency. The chart below pulls data from a recently updated biannual report. It shows the average monthly Social Security benefit paid to retired workers between ages 62 and 70 in December 2024.

When you think about the things you do in your spare time, learning about Social Security probably isn’t one of them. It’s not exactly a thrilling activity, after all. But the reality is that Social Security might play an important role in your retirement finances.