Guide

Full retirement age, explained

Figures and rules on this page last checked against their sources: October 25, 2026.

Full retirement age is the age at which Social Security pays your retirement benefit without a reduction.¹ For anyone born on January 2, 1960 or later it is 67. For people born from January 2, 1943 through January 1, 1960, it is somewhere from 66 to 66 and 10 months.

To see your own month, and what starting earlier or later does, use the full retirement age tool.

The table

Born on January 1? Use the year before.

One detail changes the row for some people. The official table runs from January 2 of one year to January 1 of the next, so if you were born on January 1, you use the row for the year before.¹ Someone born on January 1, 1960 has a full retirement age of 66 and 10 months, not 67.

The day before your birthday

Social Security counts you as reaching an age on the day before your birthday.² For most people that changes nothing. For people born on the 1st of a month, it moves every age into the previous month. Someone born on June 1, 1961 reaches full retirement age in May 2028, not June.

The earliest you can start: 62

You can start retirement benefits at 62, but you must be 62 for the whole month.³ Because of the day-before rule, people born on the 1st or 2nd of a month can start in their birthday month. Everyone else can start in the month after their 62nd birthday.

What starting early does

Start before full retirement age and your benefit is reduced for every month early: by 5/9 of 1% for each of the first 36 months, and by 5/12 of 1% for each month beyond that.⁴ With a full retirement age of 67:

With a full retirement age of 66, starting at 62 is 48 months early, a 25% reduction. The reduction is built into your monthly benefit from the first payment, so it is worth knowing its size before you choose.

What waiting past it does

For each month you wait past full retirement age, up to the month you reach 70, you earn a delayed retirement credit of 2/3 of 1%, which is 8% a year.⁵ With a full retirement age of 67, waiting to 70 adds 24%. With 66 and 10 months, it adds 25 and 1/3%. The credits stop at 70, so waiting longer adds nothing more.

Working while you collect, before full retirement age

If you start benefits before full retirement age and keep working, the earnings test can hold back part of your benefit.⁶

• Years before the year you reach full retirement age: $1 is held back for every $2 you earn above the limit. The limit is $25,560⁷ for 2027 ($24,480⁸ for 2026).
• The year you reach it: $1 for every $3 above a higher limit, counting only what you earn before the month you reach full retirement age. That limit is $67,920⁹ for 2027 ($65,160¹⁰ for 2026).
• From the month you reach full retirement age: the test no longer applies.⁶

Full retirement age is not the Medicare age

Medicare's sign-up window is built around 65, whatever your full retirement age.¹¹ Waiting until 67 to claim Social Security doesn't move it. If you aren't getting Social Security by four months before you turn 65, you sign up for Medicare yourself; it isn't automatic.¹² Your window is on the sign-up window tool.

Cost-of-living adjustments

Benefits rise each January with the cost-of-living adjustment. For 2027 it is 3.6%¹³, after 2.8%¹⁴ for 2026. The 2027 increase applies to benefits paid from January 2027.¹⁵

Questions worth answering for yourself

• What does my own Social Security statement show at 62, at full retirement age and at 70?
• Am I still working, and would the earnings test hold back benefits if I started early?
• If I'm married, how does my choice affect what my spouse could receive?
• When do I need Medicare, separately from when I start Social Security?

The planner on the home page puts your full retirement age alongside your other dates.