Full retirement age for Social Security is the age when you qualify for 100 percent of your retirement benefit, with no reduction for filing early and no bonus for waiting longer. It falls between 66 and 67, depending on the year you were born. The age matters because filing even one month early locks in a permanently smaller check, waiting past it earns you an 8 percent annual increase up to age 70, and it sets the point where the earnings penalty for working while collecting disappears.
Full Retirement Age by Birth Year
The Social Security Administration sets full retirement age by birth year, and the schedule hasn’t changed since Congress last adjusted it:
- 1943–1954: 66
- 1955: 66 and 2 months
- 1956: 66 and 4 months
- 1957: 66 and 6 months
- 1958: 66 and 8 months
- 1959: 66 and 10 months
- 1960 or later: 67
The two-month increments phase the retirement age from 66 up to 67 gradually rather than in one jump.1Social Security Administration. Benefits Planner: Retirement Age and Benefit Reduction You can apply up to four months before you want payments to begin, so the paperwork doesn’t have to wait until the exact month you reach your age.2Social Security Administration. How Do I Apply for Social Security Retirement Benefits
What Filing Early Costs You
You can start collecting as early as age 62, but every month before full retirement age shrinks your check permanently. The reduction follows you for life. It isn’t recalculated when you eventually reach full retirement age.
For the first 36 months you claim early, the benefit drops by 5/9 of one percent per month, or roughly 6.67 percent per year. Any additional months cost another 5/12 of one percent each.3eCFR. 20 CFR 404.410 – How Does SSA Reduce My Benefits When My Entitlement Begins Before Full Retirement Age If you were born in 1960 or later, filing at 62 is a full 60 months early, which adds up to a 30 percent cut. A benefit of $1,000 a month at 67 becomes $700 a month at 62.4Social Security Administration. Social Security Benefit Amounts
The number those percentages apply to is your primary insurance amount, which Social Security calculates from your 35 highest-earning years, adjusted for inflation.5Social Security Administration. Benefit Calculation Examples for Workers Retiring in 2026 Filing at exactly full retirement age gets you 100 percent of it.
What Waiting Past Full Retirement Age Earns You
For every month you delay past full retirement age, Social Security adds a delayed retirement credit. For anyone born in 1943 or later, the credit is two-thirds of one percent per month, or 8 percent per year.6Social Security Administration. Delayed Retirement Credits Credits stop accruing at age 70, so there’s no financial reason to delay past then.
The difference adds up quickly. Someone with a full retirement age of 67 and a primary insurance amount of $2,000 would receive $2,480 a month by waiting until 70. That’s a 24 percent increase, and it lasts for life.
Those credits also carry over to a surviving spouse. When a worker earns delayed retirement credits, the survivor benefit is calculated using the primary insurance amount plus the full value of those credits.7Social Security Administration. Code of Federal Regulations 404.313 – What Are Delayed Retirement Credits and How Do They Increase My Old-Age Benefit Amount That makes delayed filing especially valuable for the higher earner in a married couple, since it locks in a larger check for whichever spouse lives longer.
Working While Collecting Before Full Retirement Age
If you claim benefits before your full retirement age and keep working, Social Security may temporarily withhold part of your payment based on your earnings:
- In any year before the year you reach full retirement age, Social Security withholds $1 for every $2 you earn above $24,480 in 2026.
- In the year you reach full retirement age, counting only earnings before the month you hit it, the withholding is $1 for every $3 above $65,160 in 2026.
Starting the month you reach full retirement age, the earnings test disappears. You can earn any amount without losing any benefit.8Social Security Administration. Exempt Amounts Under the Earnings Test
Money withheld through the earnings test isn’t permanently lost. When you reach full retirement age, Social Security recalculates your monthly payment by adjusting your early-filing reduction to credit the months benefits were withheld. The agency also reviews your earnings each year and raises your benefit if a recent year of wages replaces a lower one in your top 35.9Social Security Administration. Retirement Earnings Test The earnings test works more like a deferral than a permanent tax.
Full Retirement Age for Spouses, Ex-Spouses, and Survivors
Full retirement age also governs benefits filed on someone else’s earnings record.
Spousal Benefits
A spouse can receive up to 50 percent of the worker’s primary insurance amount, but only by waiting until the spouse’s own full retirement age. Filing earlier reduces the benefit permanently. A spouse filing at 62 may receive as little as 32.5 percent of the worker’s amount. The reduction rate is 25/36 of one percent per month for the first 36 months before full retirement age, plus 5/12 of one percent for each additional month.10Social Security Administration. Benefits for Spouses
Divorced Spouse Benefits
If your marriage lasted at least 10 years, you can claim on a former spouse’s record. The same full retirement age rules apply: filing before your full retirement age reduces the amount, and waiting until then gets you up to 50 percent of your ex-spouse’s primary insurance amount. You generally need to be at least 62 and currently unmarried.11Social Security Administration. Can Someone Get Social Security Benefits on Their Former Spouse’s Record
Survivor Benefits
A surviving spouse can claim reduced benefits as early as 60, and the full retirement age used for survivor benefits may differ from the one that applies to your own retirement record. For the earnings test, though, Social Security uses your retirement full retirement age, not the earlier survivor one.12Social Security Administration. Receiving Benefits While Working
Medicare Still Starts at 65
Medicare eligibility doesn’t line up with full retirement age. It begins at 65, whether your Social Security full retirement age is 66, 67, or somewhere between. Your initial enrollment window opens three months before the month you turn 65 and closes three months after.13Medicare. When Does Medicare Coverage Start
If you’re delaying Social Security to full retirement age or later, you still need to sign up for Medicare at 65 unless you have qualifying employer coverage. Miss the window and you face late enrollment penalties for life. The Part B penalty adds 10 percent to your monthly premium for every full 12-month period you could have enrolled but didn’t. With the standard Part B premium at $202.90 in 2026, a two-year delay costs roughly $40.58 more per month, permanently. Part D drug coverage carries a similar penalty of 1 percent of the national base premium ($38.99 in 2026) for each month without creditable coverage.14Medicare. Avoid Late Enrollment Penalties
Taxes on Your Benefits
Filing at full retirement age doesn’t shield your benefits from federal income tax. Whether you file at 62, at full retirement age, or at 70, part of your Social Security may be taxable depending on total income. The IRS uses “provisional income,” which is your adjusted gross income plus nontaxable interest plus half of your Social Security benefits, and compares it to fixed thresholds:
- Single filers: provisional income between $25,000 and $34,000 makes up to 50 percent of benefits taxable. Above $34,000, up to 85 percent becomes taxable.
- Married filing jointly: provisional income between $32,000 and $44,000 makes up to 50 percent taxable. Above $44,000, up to 85 percent becomes taxable.
These thresholds were set decades ago and are not indexed to inflation, so more retirees cross them every year.15Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 86 – Social Security and Tier 1 Railroad Retirement Benefits Most states don’t tax Social Security benefits, but roughly a dozen do, often with their own income-based exemptions. Check your state’s rules before assuming your benefit is tax-free.