Raise the kids, care for your parents, and pay for it every month of retirement. The fix keeps getting introduced in Congress. It never passes.
You can spend years caregiving, doing the most important work of your life, and Social Security records it as nothing at all. And it can have a life-altering impact on your retirement.
Those years you step away from the paid workforce can have a lasting impact on your Social Security benefits. Depending on how long you were out of the workforce, the Social Security Administration (SSA) may count your caregiving years as big fat zeros.
How Are Social Security Benefits Calculated?
Social Security benefits are calculated based on your highest 35 years of earnings, indexed for inflation. From there, your Social Security earnings history is used to calculate your average indexed monthly earnings (AIME). That directly impacts your primary insurance amount (PIA).
Your PIA and the age you claim your Social Security benefits affect the actual amount you receive. It’s possible to claim Social Security benefits early at age 62, which lowers your overall benefit amount. For people born in 1960 or later, the full retirement age (FRA) is 67. You can also boost your Social Security benefit amount by delaying until age 70.
If you fall short of the 35-year Social Security earnings history, the Social Security Administration substitutes zeros for the missing years in the 35-year earnings history.
“If you stepped out of the workforce to take care of your family’s needs, they count that as zero, and it just brings down your overall number. So, it has a real negative impact for women,” said Regina McCann Hess, certified financial professional at Forge Wealth Management.
The Zero Years: How Being a Caregiver Affects Social Security Benefits
Caregiving is work. Grueling, thankless, tiresome, unpaid work. But just because you’re not paid for it doesn’t mean it doesn’t have value. Data from the AARP Public Policy Institute, published in March 2026, estimates the economic value of family caregiving is $1.01 trillion.
Those numbers don’t translate into tidy data that make it into your Social Security earnings history, though. Why? Because the way Social Security benefits are calculated doesn’t account for this nuance at all—and that disproportionately affects women.
According to data published by the Department of Labor in 2023, unpaid family caregiving reduces a mother’s lifetime earnings by 15% and has a ripple effect on retirement income as well. Each year out of the traditional workforce may lower your average earnings and impact your Social Security benefits.
Women typically leave paid work to raise children or care for aging family members for around 12 years throughout their lifetime, according to the American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries, with lost retirement income from both employer plans and Social Security estimated at $58,000.
Example: Zero Years and Lower Social Security Benefits
Let’s say you were employed from age 22 to 30. From 30 to 42, you took time off from the workforce to raise children and then care for aging parents. You started working again at 42. But because your finances are already tight, you claim your Social Security benefits early at age 62. Because you only have 28 years of earnings, you’ll have seven years of zeros in the calculation.
If you stop working and claim Social Security benefits early at age 62, you essentially reduce your overall benefit amount by 30%, compared with claiming at a full retirement age of 67. If you have zero years, then the hit could be even more impactful.
As a result, unpaid caregiving can have a domino effect and impact both current wages and future benefits.
Why the Zero Years Hit Women’s Social Security Benefits Harder
The average Social Security benefit is $2,071 per month as of January 2026, but it doesn’t account for the differences between men and women.
According to an analysis by the National Women’s Law Center published in April 2026, the average Social Security benefit for retired men 65 and older was $2,215 per month as of December 2024. For retired women 65 and older, the average Social Security benefit was $1,808 per month.
That lower amount also needs to stretch for a longer period of time, too. “We’re going to live a long time. Women tend to live at least five years longer than men. If we’re going to live longer, we’re going to need more money,” said McCann Hess.
To counteract the impact of zero years, McCann Hess suggested working a bit longer and waiting to claim Social Security benefits, if possible.
“If you work till 67, that’s going to give you a couple more years to maybe get rid of some of those goose eggs, or at least have less impact. To take it a step further, you can delay your benefit to age 70, and that increases your benefit … because at those ages, we should most likely be earning the most that we’ve earned in our careers,” said McCann Hess.
What’s Happening with the Social Security Caregiver Credit Act of 2026?
Women without 35 years of work history can see how zero years chip away at Social Security benefits, effectively punishing caregivers who take time away from work. Caregiver Social Security benefits aren’t really a thing. But there is legislation to try to change that, and it has been stuck in limbo for years.
The Social Security Caregiver Credit Act of 2026, introduced in April, aims to change that and give eligible caregivers deemed wages for up to five years of service. But earlier versions of this bill were introduced in 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, and 2023. Still, no law.
How to Check Your Social Security Benefits Right Now
You can check your Social Security benefits right now through the official SSA.gov website by following these steps.
- Create an SSA.gov account: You’ll need to verify your identity using Login.gov or ID.me.
- Log in to your account: Enter your credentials, like email and password, to access your account.
- Review estimated Social Security benefits: Once you log in, you’ll be able to see a chart with estimated benefit amounts at ages 62, 67, and 70. Alternatively, you can access “Your Social Security Statement” in the upper-left corner for more comprehensive information.
Knowing your estimated Social Security benefits can help you plan and identify gaps. Your Social Security payment may only cover a portion of your expenses.
“Whatever that number differential is for your spending, you should save two years of it, because you don’t know what’s going to happen in the market, and you don’t want to count on taking it out of your investment accounts,” said McCann Hess.
If you’re still in the workforce, McCann Hess recommends taking advantage of employer-sponsored retirement accounts and IRAs. And if you’re over 50, make the additional catch-up contributions.
Until Caregiving Counts Toward Social Security Benefits, You’re on Your Own
Everyone knows the costs of caregiving, including the government, yet there’s little to no support. The Social Security Caregiver Credit Act has been introduced as a possible solution again and again, yet it has never passed.
Until Washington counts caregiving as work, women are left to absorb the cost themselves. You need to know your own number: what Social Security estimates you’ll receive each month, how many years of earnings history are used to calculate that benefit, and how far it will go toward your expenses. The work counts. Before you claim, know what it costs you.
Reviewed for accuracy by Heather L. Schreiber, RICP, RSSA, a Social Security and retirement income consultant.
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