What is considered full retirement age for social security

Full retirement age, or FRA, is the age when you are entitled to 100 percent of your Social Security benefits, which are determined by your lifetime earnings. It is gradually increasing, from 66 and 4 months for people born in 1956 to 66 and 6 months for those born in 1957 and, ultimately, 67 for people born in 1960 or later.

Those dates apply to the retirement benefits you earned from working and to spousal benefits, which your husband or wife can collect on your work record. They differ slightly for survivor benefits, which you can claim if your spouse dies. Full retirement age for survivors is 66 for people born in 1956 and gradually increases to age 67 for people born in 1962 or later.

Keep in mind

  • Claiming benefits before full retirement age will lower your monthly payments; the earlier you file — you can start at age 62 — the greater the reduction in benefits. Spousal and survivor benefits are also reduced if you claim them before reaching full retirement age.
  • You can increase your retirement benefits by waiting past your FRA to retire. Each month you put off filing up to age 70 earns you delayed retirement credits that boost your eventual benefit.

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What is the Social Security Retirement Age?

Social Security’s full-benefit retirement age is increasing gradually because of legislation passed by Congress in 1983. Traditionally, the full benefit age was 65, and early retirement benefits were first available at age 62, with a permanent reduction to 80 percent of the full benefit amount. Currently, the full benefit age is 66 years and 2 months for people born in 1955, and it will gradually rise to 67 for those born in 1960 or later. Early retirement benefits will continue to be available at age 62, but they will be reduced more. When the full-benefit age reaches 67, benefits taken at age 62 will be reduced to 70 percent of the full benefit and benefits first taken at age 65 will be reduced to 86.7 percent of the full benefit.

There is a financial bonus for delayed retirement. An individual reaching the full-benefit age in 2017 (66 years and 2 months old) receives a monthly benefit that is 8 percent higher for each year he or she delays collecting benefits until the latest claiming age of 70, at which point benefits are 132% of what they would have been at the normal retirement age. (When the full benefit age reaches 67, benefits claimed at age 70 will be 24 percent higher because of that delay.) The maximum retirement benefit in 2017 for someone who waits until age 70 to collect benefits is $3,538 a month.

For more information, see:

  • Social Security Benefits, Finances, and Policy Options: A Primer
  • Toolkit: When to Take Social Security: It Pays to Wait
  • INFOGRAPHIC: Can You Wait to Receive Social Security Benefits?
  • When to Take Social Security: Questions to Consider, Social Security Brief No. 31
  • Economic Status of the Elderly in the United States
  • Strengthening Social Security for Workers in Physically Demanding Occupations
  • Social Security and Retirement Income Adequacy, Social Security Brief No. 25
  • Increasing the Early Retirement Age under Social Security: Health, Work, and Financial Resources, Health and Income Security for an Aging Workforce Brief No. 7

Read what some Academy members think:*

  • Tatsuko Go Hollo: Delaying Retirement: Should Average Life Expectancy Determine Retirement Age?” (2013)
  • Thomas N. Bethell: “World’s best investment? Delaying Social Security” (2012)
  • Anna Rappaport: “Understanding Mortality Improvement” (2011)
  • Eric Kingson:  “Social Security and the Vanishing 401(k)” (2008)

* The views of Academy members are their own and not an official position of the National Academy of Social Insurance or its funders.

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What is full retirement age for Social Security in 2022?

After the normal retirement age (NRA) reaches 67 for those age 62 in 2022, increase the NRA 1 month every 2 years until the NRA reaches 68. Memorandum containing this or a similar provision: Social Security Advisory Board 2005.

Can you collect Social Security at 66 and still work full time?

When you reach your full retirement age, you can work and earn as much as you want and still get your full Social Security benefit payment. If you're younger than full retirement age and if your earnings exceed certain dollar amounts, some of your benefit payments during the year will be withheld.

At what age do you get 100 of your Social Security benefits?

If you start receiving benefits at age 66 you get 100 percent of your monthly benefit. If you delay receiving retirement benefits until after your full retirement age, your monthly benefit continues to increase.

Can I draw Social Security at 62 and still work full time?

You can get Social Security retirement benefits and work at the same time. However, if you are younger than full retirement age and make more than the yearly earnings limit, we will reduce your benefit. Starting with the month you reach full retirement age, we will not reduce your benefits no matter how much you earn.