For anyone born in 1960 or later, the full Social Security retirement age is 67. If you were born between 1943 and 1959, your full retirement age falls somewhere between 66 and 66 years and 10 months. That is the age when you qualify for 100% of your Social Security retirement benefit. Claim earlier and the monthly amount shrinks permanently. Wait longer, up to 70, and it grows. The full Social Security retirement age by birth year is the anchor for every one of those decisions.1Social Security Administration. Normal Retirement Age
Full Retirement Age Chart by Birth Year
The current schedule uses two-month steps for people born between 1955 and 1959, then flattens out at 67:1Social Security Administration. Normal Retirement Age
- 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 trip people up. Someone born in 1958 might assume they share a full retirement age with a sibling born in 1960, but the gap is four months, and that gap changes the math on when to claim.
The schedule itself was set by the Social Security Amendments of 1983, which lifted the retirement age from 65 in two stages.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 416 – Additional Definitions – Section: Retirement Age
If You Were Born on the First of a Month
Social Security treats you as reaching an age the day before your birthday. For most people this makes no difference. It does for anyone born on the first. A person born January 1, 1960, is treated as reaching each age milestone in December 1959, so their full retirement age is 66 and 10 months, not 67.3eCFR. 20 CFR Part 404 – Federal Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance – Section: 404.409 What Is Full Retirement Age The same shift applies at any month boundary: someone born March 1 is treated as reaching their age in February, which can move the month benefits start and when the earnings test stops applying.
What Claiming Before Full Retirement Age Costs
The earliest you can start a retirement benefit is 62. The reduction runs in two tiers:4Social Security Administration. Benefit Reduction for Early Retirement
- For each of the first 36 months before your full retirement age, the benefit drops by 5/9 of 1%, or about 6.67% per year.
- For each additional month beyond 36, the reduction slows to 5/12 of 1% per month, about 5% per year.
So the size of the cut depends on your full retirement age. If yours is 66, claiming at 62 is 48 months early: 20% off for the first 36 months plus 5% off for the next 12, for a 25% total reduction. If your full retirement age is 67, claiming at 62 is 60 months early, which costs a full 30%.5Social Security Administration. Retirement Age and Benefit Reduction
The reduction sticks. Social Security does not raise the payment back to the full amount when you eventually reach full retirement age. A $1,000 full benefit turns into a $700 monthly check for someone with a full retirement age of 67 who claims at 62, and it stays at that reduced level for life, adjusted only for annual cost-of-living increases.5Social Security Administration. Retirement Age and Benefit Reduction
What Waiting Past Full Retirement Age Adds
Delaying past full retirement age earns delayed retirement credits worth 2/3 of 1% per month, or 8% per year.6eCFR. 20 CFR Part 225 – Primary Insurance Amount Determinations – Section: 225.34 How the Amount of the DRC Is Figured Credits stop building at 70, so there is no financial reason to wait longer.
For someone with a full retirement age of 67, waiting to 70 adds 24%, bringing the monthly check to 124% of the full benefit. Compared with the 30% cut at 62, the total spread is 54 percentage points. On a $2,000 full benefit, that is $1,400 versus $2,480 a month, a difference of nearly $13,000 a year that runs for the rest of retirement.
Spousal and Survivor Full Retirement Age
Your full retirement age also sets the point at which you qualify for the full spousal or survivor benefit, but the rules aren’t identical to the ones for your own retirement check.
Spousal Benefits
A spouse can collect up to 50% of the worker’s full benefit at their own full retirement age. Claim earlier and the spousal benefit is cut by 25/36 of 1% for each of the first 36 months early, then 5/12 of 1% for each additional month.7Social Security Administration. Benefits for Spouses For a spouse whose own full retirement age is 67, claiming at 62 cuts the spousal benefit by 35%, from $500 to $325 on a $1,000 primary insurance amount.5Social Security Administration. Retirement Age and Benefit Reduction
Spousal benefits do not earn delayed retirement credits. Waiting past full retirement age to claim as a spouse adds nothing.
Survivor Benefits
A surviving spouse can collect up to 100% of the deceased worker’s benefit, but only at the survivor’s own full retirement age for survivor benefits, which runs on a separate schedule between 66 and 67.8Social Security Administration. See Your Full Retirement Age for Survivor Benefits A survivor can start collecting as early as 60, but the reduction is steep: roughly 71.5% of the full amount at 60, rising as the survivor waits.9Social Security Administration. What You Could Get From Survivor Benefits
Working Before Full Retirement Age
If you claim before your full retirement age and keep working, Social Security temporarily withholds part of your benefit once your earnings pass an annual limit. For 2026:10Social Security Administration. Exempt Amounts Under the Earnings Test
- If you are under full retirement age for the whole year, Social Security withholds $1 for every $2 earned above $24,480.
- In the year you reach full retirement age, and only for the months before the month you get there, the withholding is $1 for every $3 earned above $65,160.11Social Security Administration. 2026 Cost-of-Living Adjustment Fact Sheet
Only wages and net self-employment income count. Pensions, investment income, and annuities don’t. Starting the month you actually reach full retirement age, the earnings test disappears and you can earn any amount without losing benefits.
Withheld money is not lost. Once you reach full retirement age, Social Security recalculates your monthly payment to credit the months when benefits were held back, and the higher amount runs for the rest of your life.
Medicare Still Starts at 65
Medicare eligibility does not follow full retirement age. It begins at 65 no matter what year you were born.12Social Security Administration. What Is Full Retirement Age If your full retirement age is 67 and you wait until then to think about Medicare, you have already missed your initial enrollment window by two years.
The Part B late enrollment penalty is an extra 10% on your monthly premium for each full year you could have signed up but didn’t, and you pay it for as long as you have Part B. With the 2026 standard Part B premium at $202.90 per month, a two-year delay adds roughly $40.58 per month, permanently.13Medicare.gov. Avoid Late Enrollment Penalties One exception: if you are still working at 65 and covered by an employer group health plan, a special enrollment period lets you sign up for Part B without penalty when that coverage ends.