Paid 17 years into Railroad Retirement from 1971 to 1987. Paid 29 years into Social Security from 1987 to 2016. Retired and started drawing Railroad Retirement at 63. Letting Social Security grow with delayed credits until 70 ( in about 2 years). My question is since social security takes the top 35 years of indexed earnings, will my years of railroad retirement payments be considered or will I have 6 years of zero earnings.
Thanks,
Jim

Hi Jim. No, Social Security won't use your Railroad (RR) earnings when calculating your Social Security (SS) benefit rate. The only way that Social Security can use a person's RR earnings to calculate their SS benefit rate is if they don't have enough RR work credits to qualify for RR retirement benefits.

Best, Jerry