Quick answer
Sixty-five is not the full retirement age for everyone. Your Social Security full retirement age is set by your birth year, and it ranges from 65 to 67. One table from the Social Security Administration settles it for every birth year, and this post is that table, with the reason the scale exists at all.
The full retirement age chart
Full retirement age (FRA) is the age at which you receive 100 percent of your Social Security retirement benefit. Claim earlier and the check shrinks permanently. Claim later and it grows.
Full retirement age is also called the normal retirement age in Social Security’s own language, and the two terms mean the same thing. The chart below comes straight from the SSA’s rules (Code of Federal Regulations, section 404.409).
| Birth year | Full retirement age |
|---|---|
| 1937 or earlier | 65 |
| 1938 | 65 and 2 months |
| 1939 | 65 and 4 months |
| 1940 | 65 and 6 months |
| 1941 | 65 and 8 months |
| 1942 | 65 and 10 months |
| 1943 to 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 |
This post is the chart itself. For the comparison with other countries, see the retirement age guide; to work out your exact date, use the retirement age calculator.
One quirk worth knowing: if you were born on January 1 of any year, Social Security treats you as if you were born in the previous year. A January 1, 1960 birthday uses the 1959 row, which means 66 and 10 months instead of 67.
Why your birth year decides it
The scale comes from the Social Security Amendments of 1983, signed into law on April 20, 1983. Congress faced a program heading toward insolvency, driven by longer life spans and the Baby Boom generation approaching retirement. The fix raised the full retirement age from 65 to 67 in two slow stages instead of overnight.
Stage one covered births from 1938 through 1942, adding two months per birth year until the age reached 66 for the 1943 to 1954 cohorts.
Stage two resumed the climb for births from 1955 through 1959, again two months per year, landing at 67 for everyone born in 1960 or later. The phase-in finished in 2027, when the 1960 cohort turned 67.
The logic is demographic arithmetic. When Social Security began, a 65-year-old retiree collected for a far shorter remaining life span than a 65-year-old does today. Raising the age at which full benefits start keeps lifetime payouts roughly in line with longer lives.
Whether that trade is fair to manual workers with shorter life expectancies is a live political argument, and it is the same argument behind every retirement-age increase worldwide.
What the chart means for your check
Three ages matter, not one.
62: the earliest you can claim. This is the early eligibility age. Filing at 62 with a full retirement age of 67 cuts the monthly benefit by about 30 percent, and the reduction lasts for life. It is the right call for some people and an expensive one for others, but the math is fixed.
Your full retirement age: 100 percent. This is the chart above. File in the month you reach it and you get your full calculated benefit, called the primary insurance amount.
70: the latest that helps. Every year you wait past full retirement age adds delayed retirement credits of 8 percent per year, up to age 70. Waiting past 70 adds nothing. For someone with a full retirement age of 67, filing at 70 means a check roughly 24 percent larger than the full benefit.
The spread between 62 and 70 is enormous. A worker entitled to $2,000 a month at full retirement age gets about $1,400 filing at 62 and about $2,480 waiting until 70. Same career, same earnings, wildly different checks. The birth-year chart is the starting point of that decision.
Get your exact date in seconds
The chart gives you the age. Adding that age to your date of birth gives you the exact calendar date you reach full retirement age, and from there the countdown to it.
Our retirement age calculator does the full chain: enter your birth date, and it applies the correct row of this chart, shows your full retirement age, your exact retirement date with the weekday, and how many days remain. The retirement age guide explains how the US system compares with the rest of the world.
The January 1 Trap: Three Worked Cases
Competitors mention the January 1 rule in one sentence. None works three boundary cases showing exactly how the date-range table applies. This is the chart’s most-misunderstood corner, made mechanical.
| Born | SSA treats as | FRA row applied | FRA date |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 1, 1960 | December 1959 | 1959: 66 and 10 months | October 2026 |
| June 1, 1954 | May 1954 | 1943-1954: 66 | May 2020 |
| January 2, 1955 | January 2, 1955 (normal) | 1955: 66 and 2 months | March 2021 |
Worked Example: Born 1957
- FRA = 66 and 6 months. Born June 15, 1957: FRA date December 15, 2023.
- Claim at 62: 54 months early = 36 x 5/9% + 18 x 5/12% = 20% + 7.5% = 27.5% cut, 72.5% of PIA for life.
- Delay to 70: 42 months x 2/3% = 28% boost, 128% of PIA.
- Born January 1, 1960: January 1 rule applies the 1959 row, FRA 66 and 10 months, not 67.
The Full Chart
| Birth year | Full retirement age | Cut at 62 | Benefit at 70 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1943-1954 | 66 | 25.00% | 132% |
| 1955 | 66 and 2 months | 25.83% | 130.67% |
| 1956 | 66 and 4 months | 26.67% | 129.33% |
| 1957 | 66 and 6 months | 27.50% | 128% |
| 1958 | 66 and 8 months | 28.33% | 126.67% |
| 1959 | 66 and 10 months | 29.17% | 125.33% |
| 1960+ | 67 | 30.00% | 124% |
Chart Facts
The 1983 Amendments
The Social Security Amendments of 1983, signed on April 20, 1983, raised the full retirement age from 65 to 67 in two stages by birth year, and the phase-in finished in 2027 when the 1960 cohort turned 67.
First-of-month rule
Born on the 1st of any month, SSA figures FRA as if the birthday were in the previous month. You must be at least 62 for the entire month to receive a benefit for that month.
40 work credits
Reaching FRA alone does not qualify you. 40 credits (about 10 years) are required. In 2026 you earn one credit for every $1,890 in covered earnings, up to four credits a year.
Beyond the Chart: Spousal Benefits, COLA, and the Earnings Test
The chart settles your own full retirement age, but three related rules change what the check actually is.
Spousal benefits
A spouse can claim up to 50 percent of the worker’s primary insurance amount, but only at their own full retirement age. Claiming at 62 with a full retirement age of 67 cuts the spousal benefit to 32.5 percent of the primary insurance amount, and the reduction is permanent.
Unlike your own benefit, a spousal benefit earns no delayed retirement credits: waiting past full retirement age adds nothing, and 50 percent is the ceiling.
COLA
The chart gives percentages of your primary insurance amount, and that amount rises every year with the cost-of-living adjustment. The 2026 COLA is 2.8 percent, following 2.5 percent in 2025.
The adjustment is based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, and it applies to benefits already in payment as well as to the primary insurance amount itself.
Earnings test
If you claim before full retirement age and keep working, the earnings test withholds $1 of benefits for every $2 you earn above the annual limit: $24,480 in 2026.
In the year you reach full retirement age the limit rises to $65,160, and only $1 is withheld for every $3 above it, counting only the months before your birthday month.
Once you reach full retirement age the test disappears entirely. The withheld money is not lost: Social Security adds it back by raising your monthly benefit after you reach full retirement age.
How This Chart Compares
Three full retirement age guides rank for the same query, and each one presents the chart in its own way. The table below lines them up so you can see which one gives you the worked cases and which one stops at the chart.
| Feature | This chart | NerdWallet | MaximizeMySocialSecurity | CoastFireCalculator |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FRA chart by birth year | Full, 1937 to 1960+ | Full, with cut column | Full, official chart | Full, with dollar columns |
| January 1 trap, worked cases | Three cases | One sentence | One note | Two rules |
| Cut at 62 and benefit at 70 | Full table | Cut column only | Not shown | Dollar columns |
| Spousal, COLA, earnings test | Covered | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Retirement calculator on the page | Not built in | Not there | Not there | Built in |
| No paywall, no account | Free | Open | No paywall | Free to read |
What this chart leaves out: this page has no calculator of its own. The Retirement Age Calculator on this site works out your exact date instead.
Sources
- SSA: Retirement Benefits (Publication 05-10035) (the official FRA chart by birth year)
- Code of Federal Regulations 404.409 (the statutory date-range table)
- SSA: Cost-of-Living Adjustment Information (the 2026 COLA, 2.8 percent)
- SSA: Exempt Amounts Under the Earnings Test (the 2026 limits, $24,480 and $65,160)
- SSA: Benefits for Spouses (the spousal benefit, 50 percent at full retirement age and 32.5 percent at 62)
Frequently Asked Questions
What is my full retirement age if I was born in 1960?
67. Everyone born in 1960 or later has a full retirement age of 67 under current law. You reach it in the month of your 67th birthday, which for a 1960 birth was during 2027.
What is my full retirement age if I was born in 1957?
66 and 6 months. The 1955 to 1959 cohorts sit on the second climbing stage of the 1983 schedule, gaining two months per birth year from the 66-year plateau.
Why did the retirement age change from 65 to 67?
Congress raised it in the Social Security Amendments of 1983 to protect the program’s solvency as life expectancy rose. The increase was phased in by birth year over more than two decades instead of applied all at once.
Can I still retire at 62?
Yes. 62 is the earliest eligibility age for Social Security retirement benefits. Filing that early permanently reduces the monthly check, by about 30 percent for someone whose full retirement age is 67.
Does full retirement age affect Medicare eligibility?
No. Medicare eligibility starts at 65 regardless of your Social Security full retirement age. Someone born in 1960 qualifies for Medicare at 65 but must wait until 67 for the full Social Security benefit.
Related Age Calculation Guides
Retirement Age Guide: When Can You Retire?: The retirement age guide, with the country comparison.
Retirement Age Calculator: Work out your exact retirement date, with the weekday.
Chronological Age: Meaning and Calculation: What a completed year is, and where the count starts.
How to Calculate Age From Date of Birth: Years, months, days, worked out by hand.
Age Gap Calculator: Two ages in, the gap out in seconds.
Age Difference Calculator: The gap between two birthdays, worked out exactly.
Methodology: How this site counts an age, from birth date to result.