how is social security determined?

Your benefit is determined from your highest 35 years of earning over your lifetime, adjusted for inflation. 

Thanks for the great questions.

https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/Benefits.html  This link is from the Social Security Department webpage and it goes over how social security is calculated.  I think you can sign in to your account but creating one and see what your estimated social security might be.  https://secure.ssa.gov/RIL/SiView.action  I have an account and they send me a yearly email with my contributions and other information.  You should be able to sign up for an email too.

Click on the above links or copy and paste them into a browser.

Hope this was helpful!!

Katie S.

From the pdf link below:

Many people wonder how we figure their Social
Security retirement benefit. We:
• Base Social Security benefits on your lifetime
earnings.
• Adjust or “index” your actual earnings to
account for changes in average wages since
the year the earnings were received.
• Calculate your average indexed monthly
earnings during the 35 years in which you
earned the most.
• Apply a formula to these earnings and arrive
at your basic benefit, or “primary insurance
amount.”
This is how much you would receive at your full
retirement age — 65 or older, depending on
your date of birth.

Here is a link to the pdf that explains in depth how the calculations are made. https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10070.pdf

You can create an account with the Social Security Administration to assist in determining your benefits. https://www.ssa.gov/myaccount/

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