Yes. Congress voted to increase the Social Security retirement age in 1983, phasing the full retirement age up from 65 to 67 based on birth year.1Social Security Administration. Legislative History – Social Security Amendments of 1983 The phase-in is now complete: if you were born in 1960 or later, your full retirement age is 67. If you were born earlier, it lands somewhere between 65 and 67 depending on the year. You can still start benefits as early as 62, but the penalty for doing so is larger than it used to be, and that is the practical consequence of the change for anyone claiming today.
Why the Age Went Up
Social Security paid its first retirement benefits in 1940 with a full retirement age of 65, and it stayed there for more than four decades. By the early 1980s the program’s reserves were running low and life expectancy had climbed well past what the original designers assumed. Congress responded with the Social Security Amendments of 1983, signed on April 20, 1983, which included a gradual increase in the full retirement age from 65 to 67.1Social Security Administration. Legislative History – Social Security Amendments of 1983
The increase came in two waves. The first moved the age from 65 to 66 for people born between 1938 and 1943. The second moved it from 66 to 67 for people born between 1955 and 1960. In between, the age held steady at 66 for more than a decade of birth years.
Full Retirement Age by Birth Year
Your full retirement age is the point at which you collect 100% of the benefit calculated from your work history. The federal statute sets the schedule by birth year:2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 416 – Additional Definitions
- Born 1943–1954: 663Social Security Administration. Retirement Age and Benefit Reduction
- Born 1955: 66 and 2 months
- Born 1956: 66 and 4 months
- Born 1957: 66 and 6 months
- Born 1958: 66 and 8 months
- Born 1959: 66 and 10 months
- Born 1960 or later: 67
For context on what a benefit actually looks like at these ages in 2026, the maximum monthly benefit at full retirement age is $4,152. Waiting until 70 pushes the ceiling to $5,181. Claiming at 62 caps it at $2,969. Very few people hit the maximum in any of those columns — it requires 35 years of earnings at or above the taxable maximum.4Social Security Administration. What Is the Maximum Social Security Retirement Benefit Payable?
What Claiming Early Costs You Now
You can still start retirement benefits at 62 regardless of your full retirement age.3Social Security Administration. Retirement Age and Benefit Reduction The reduction is permanent. Social Security applies a formula for each month you file before your full retirement age, and the smaller check doesn’t reset to the full amount when you eventually reach it.
How much you lose depends on how far ahead of your full retirement age you claim:
- Full retirement age of 67 (born 1960 or later): claiming at 62 is 60 months early, a 30% reduction.5Social Security Administration. Early or Late Retirement
- Full retirement age of 66 (born 1943–1954): claiming at 62 is 48 months early, a 25% reduction.3Social Security Administration. Retirement Age and Benefit Reduction
That five-percentage-point gap is the direct result of the 1983 change. A worker born in 1960 who files at 62 gives up nearly a third of their benefit for life. Someone born in 1950 who made the same choice gave up a quarter. The formula runs the same way, but the earlier claim date sits further from a later full retirement age, so the reduction is bigger.
The Reward for Waiting
The system runs the same math in reverse if you delay. For anyone born in 1943 or later, Social Security adds a delayed retirement credit of 8% per year past full retirement age, or two-thirds of 1% per month.6Social Security Administration. Delayed Retirement Credits The credits stop at 70, so there’s no benefit to waiting longer than that.7Social Security Administration. 20 CFR 404.313 – What Are Delayed Retirement Credits and How Do They Increase My Old-Age Benefit Amount?
A worker with a full retirement age of 67 who waits to 70 picks up three full years of credits, worth a 24% permanent increase in the monthly check. Between claiming at 62 and waiting to 70, the difference in monthly income can be more than double for the same person with the same earnings record.
One provision worth knowing about if you’re already past full retirement age and haven’t filed: you can request up to six months of retroactive benefits as a lump sum. Your ongoing monthly amount will then be calculated as if you had filed on the retroactive date, not the later one.6Social Security Administration. Delayed Retirement Credits
Medicare Still Starts at 65
One thing the 1983 amendments did not change: Medicare eligibility. Congress raised the Social Security full retirement age to 67 but left Medicare at 65.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 1395c – Description of Program For anyone born in 1960 or later, that creates a two-year gap. You become eligible for Medicare before you can collect unreduced Social Security.
Your initial Medicare enrollment window runs seven months: the three months before you turn 65, your birthday month, and the three months after.9Medicare. When Does Medicare Coverage Start Miss it without other qualifying coverage and Part B carries a 10% late enrollment penalty for each full 12-month period you could have enrolled but didn’t. The standard Part B premium for 2026 is $202.90 per month, so a two-year delay adds roughly $40 to that premium permanently.10Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. 2026 Medicare Parts A and B Premiums and Deductibles The exception is coverage through your own or a spouse’s current employer, which lets you delay without penalty and enroll later during a special enrollment period.
Could the Retirement Age Rise Again
Social Security’s trustees have projected long-term funding shortfalls for years, and raising the retirement age is one of the most frequently discussed responses. The Office of the Chief Actuary has scored proposals that would push the full retirement age to 68, 69, or 70, and some proposals would also raise the earliest claiming age from 62.11Social Security Administration. Provisions Affecting Retirement Age
None have passed. The last change was the 1983 law, and its political cost is part of why Congress hasn’t touched the age since. The idea keeps resurfacing in solvency plans, though, so if you’re still decades from retirement, treating 67 as the current answer rather than the final one is reasonable. Building some flexibility into your planned retirement date is the most practical hedge against a change you can’t predict.