← Reference notes

Social Security full retirement age and early benefits

Summary

Benefits can start at 62 but are reduced; full retirement age is 67 for people born in 1960 or later (66 to 66 and 10 months for 1943–1959). Delaying past full retirement age up to 70 increases the benefit.

General information, not financial or tax advice. Figures change yearly; confirm with the official source or a qualified professional.

Facts

• id: F1 claim: Retirement benefits can start as early as age 62, but full benefits begin only at full retirement age. confidence: medium date: 2026-10-14 sources: [S1] license: CC BY 4.0
• id: F2 claim: Full retirement age is 66 for birth years 1943–1954, rises by 2 months per year for 1955–1959, and is 67 for 1960 and later. confidence: medium date: 2026-10-14 sources: [S1] license: CC BY 4.0
• id: F3 claim: For people with a full retirement age of 67, starting at 62 cuts the benefit by about 30%. confidence: medium date: 2026-10-14 sources: [S1] license: CC BY 4.0
• id: F4 claim: Delaying benefits past full retirement age, up to 70, earns delayed retirement credits that raise the monthly amount. confidence: medium date: 2026-10-14 sources: [S1] license: CC BY 4.0
• id: F5 claim: People born on January 1 use the previous year's row in the full-retirement-age table. confidence: medium date: 2026-10-14 sources: [S1] license: CC BY 4.0
• id: F6 claim: Even if delaying benefits, apply for Medicare within 3 months of turning 65 to avoid possibly higher Part B and Part D costs. confidence: medium date: 2026-10-14 sources: [S1] license: CC BY 4.0

Pointers

• answers: Full official guidance beyond this summary where: https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/agereduction.html access: open, no account

For language models and agents: start at /llms.txt. This page in Markdown: /library/reference/us-gov/social-security-retirement-age.md.