Starting CPP at 60, 65 or 70
The age you start your Canada Pension Plan retirement pension changes every payment for the rest of your life, in one direction or the other.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
Starting CPP at 60 cuts the pension by 36 % for life, and waiting until 70 raises it by 42 %, because Service Canada applies 0.6 % less for each month before 65 and 0.7 % more for each month after. Applied to the July 2026 average at 65, $858.34 a month, that gives $549.34 at 60 and $1,218.84 at 70. Counting payments in 2026 dollars, a pension started at 65 overtakes one started at 60 around age 73.9, and a pension started at 70 overtakes one started at 65 around 81.9. These break-even ages are the same for any amount below the maximum, since the adjustment is a percentage. Arithmetic is only part of the choice. Health, other savings, a spouse who depends on the pension and the Guaranteed Income Supplement all weigh in: for a senior with little other income, a larger CPP reduces the GIS, so waiting gains less than the headline percentage suggests. Service Canada’s decision letter confirms the amount that is actually paid.
Break-even age between two CPP start dates
Starting at 70 catches up at about
age 78.2
| Monthly at 60 | $549.12 |
| Monthly at 70 | $1,218.36 |
| Total to 85, start at 60 | $164,736 |
| Total to 85, start at 70 | $219,305 |
In 2026 dollars, before tax; real payments are indexed every January.
The adjustment, age by age
The rule fits in one line on Service Canada, Deciding when to start your CPP pension: 0.6 % less for each month you start before 65, down to a 36 % cut at 60, and 0.7 % more for each month after 65, up to 42 % at 70. The bonus for waiting is larger per month than the penalty for starting early, which is why the late start eventually wins on pure totals.
| Start age | Factor versus 65 | From the 2026 average | From the 2026 maximum |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60 | 0.640 | $549.34 | $964.90 |
| 61 | 0.712 | $611.14 | $1,073.45 |
| 62 | 0.784 | $672.94 | $1,182.00 |
| 63 | 0.856 | $734.74 | $1,290.55 |
| 64 | 0.928 | $796.54 | $1,399.10 |
| 65 | 1.000 | $858.34 | $1,507.65 |
| 66 | 1.084 | $930.44 | $1,634.29 |
| 67 | 1.168 | $1,002.54 | $1,760.94 |
| 68 | 1.252 | $1,074.64 | $1,887.58 |
| 69 | 1.336 | $1,146.74 | $2,014.22 |
| 70 | 1.420 | $1,218.84 | $2,140.86 |
A factor of 0.64 at 60 means you keep 64 % of the age-65 amount; a factor of 1.42 at 70 means you receive 142 % of it. The adjustment never expires. A pension started at 61 stays 28.8 % lower at 90.
Break-even ages, computed
The break-even age is the birthday at which the later start has caught up with the earlier one in total dollars received. We compute it with the same function as the CPP calculator, in 2026 dollars, with no interest and no tax.
| Comparison | Monthly, earlier start | Monthly, later start | Later start catches up at |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60 versus 65 | $549.34 | $858.34 | age 73.9 |
| 60 versus 70 | $549.34 | $1,218.84 | age 78.2 |
| 65 versus 70 | $858.34 | $1,218.84 | age 81.9 |
| 62 versus 67 | $672.94 | $1,002.54 | age 77.2 |
| 65 versus 68 | $858.34 | $1,074.64 | age 79.9 |
The striking point is that the dollar amount does not matter. Whether your statement shows $858.34 or $1,507.65, the break-even between 65 and 70 lands at 81.9, because both pensions are fixed percentages of the same base. What changes is the size of the stake: the gap between the two totals at 90 is far larger on a full pension than on a small one.
Indexation does not move these ages either, since both pensions rise by the same percentage every January (2.0 % for 2026). What can move them is money you would earn on the early payments if you saved them, and income tax, which may take a bigger bite from a large late pension stacked on other retirement income.
Break-even age between two CPP start dates
Starting at 70 catches up at about
age 78.2
| Monthly at 60 | $549.12 |
| Monthly at 70 | $1,218.36 |
| Total to 85, start at 60 | $164,736 |
| Total to 85, start at 70 | $219,305 |
In 2026 dollars, before tax; real payments are indexed every January.
What the break-even age leaves out
Service Canada tells people to decide on their health, their financial situation and their retirement plans. Each one can outweigh the arithmetic. Someone with a serious illness at 60 may never reach a break-even at 73.9 or 81.9. Someone with a workplace pension, savings or a working spouse can afford to wait and buy a larger, indexed income for later life, which is a form of insurance against living to 95. Someone who stops working at 60 with nothing else to live on often has no real choice.
Starting early while still working is a separate case. If you collect CPP and keep earning before 70, you can continue contributing, and each year adds a post-retirement benefit, as described in the CPP payment amount guide. That partly offsets the early-start cut, but only partly.
The GIS changes the calculation for low incomes
The Guaranteed Income Supplement is paid on top of Old Age Security to seniors with low income, and the Old Age Security Act counts CPP benefits as income (Old Age Security Act (R.S.C. 1985, c. O-9)). For a senior who would qualify for the GIS, a larger CPP is partly taken back through a smaller supplement the following year. The table uses our GIS model, calibrated on the October to December 2026 grid (ESDC, Quarterly report of CPP and OAS monthly amounts, October to December 2026) and accurate to about a dollar a month between the published thresholds, for a single person whose only income besides OAS is the average CPP pension.
| CPP start age | CPP per month | GIS per month | CPP plus GIS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60 | $549.34 | $769.66 | $1,319.00 |
| 65 | $858.34 | $537.91 | $1,396.25 |
| 70 | $1,218.84 | $353.58 | $1,572.42 |
Between a start at 60 and a start at 70, the CPP pension grows by $669.50 a month, but CPP and GIS together grow by much less, because the supplement falls as the pension rises. A low earner who delays to 70 also has to live from 65 to 70 on OAS and GIS alone. For that profile, the case for waiting is weaker than the 42 % headline suggests. The GIS calculator and the guide to RRIF withdrawals and the GIS cover the other incomes that interact with the supplement.
Making the choice official
CPP never starts on its own: you choose the month on your application. Service Canada accepts applications up to 12 months before the chosen start (Service Canada, Applying for the CPP retirement pension (modified 2026-10-01)), so a 64-year-old aiming for 65 can file right away. Old Age Security has its own deferral rules, with a different monthly bonus, explained in the OAS deferral guide; the two decisions are separate and can be made at different ages.