Full retirement age is 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later and 66 and 10 months for those born in 1959, according to the table published by the Social Security Administration (SSA). Two months of difference in a birth certificate look trivial, but they change the permanent reduction applied to an early claim: a worker born in 1959 who files at 62 loses 29.17% of the benefit, while one born in 1960 loses the full 30%. On a benefit of $2,000, that gap alone is worth about $200 a year for life.
Full retirement age is the reference point for the entire system. Everything else, early reductions and delayed credits alike, is measured from it.
The table, by birth year
- 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 and later: 67
The staircase is the result of a 1983 reform that raised the age gradually rather than at once. It finished phasing in with the 1960 cohort, which is why 67 is now the figure that applies to every worker still in the labor market.
What changes at that exact age
Three things happen when full retirement age arrives, and they arrive together. The benefit is paid at 100% of the calculated amount, with no reduction. The earnings test disappears, so a beneficiary can work without any limit. And delayed retirement credits begin to accrue at 8% a year for anyone who postpones further, up to age 70.
Before that date, filing costs five ninths of 1% per month for the first 36 months and five twelfths of 1% for each additional month.
Why 62 is still the most common choice
Age 62 remains the earliest possible claim and one of the most frequent, even though it carries the largest reduction. Layoffs, health problems and caring responsibilities push people out of the labor market well before 67, and the decision is often made without a calculation.
The cost is not small. Claiming five years early converts a $2,000 benefit into $1,400, permanently, and caps what a surviving spouse can later receive on the same record.
Full retirement age is not Medicare age
One confusion worth clearing up: Medicare eligibility begins at 65 regardless of birth year, and it has not moved. A worker born in 1960 therefore reaches Medicare age two years before full retirement age.
Anyone who delays a Social Security claim past 65 still needs to enrol in Medicare during their own initial enrolment window, because the automatic enrolment that comes with a benefit claim does not apply. Missing it can mean a permanent surcharge on the Part B premium, which stands at $202.90 a month in 2026.
