20 C.F.R. § 404.231
Steps in computing your primary insurance amount under the guaranteed alternative—general
If you reach age 62 after 1978 but before 1984, we follow three major steps in finding your guaranteed alternative:
(a) First, we compute your average monthly wage, as described in § 404.232;
(b) Second, we find the primary insurance amount that corresponds to your average monthly wage in the benefit table in appendix III.
(c) Then we apply any automatic cost-of-living or ad hoc increases in primary insurance amounts that have become effective in or after the year you reached age 62.