Social Security Full Retirement Age Calculator

Full retirement age chart

FRA controls the retirement-benefit reduction, delayed credits, and when the earnings test stops. Medicare eligibility generally remains age 65 and is a separate rule.

How the early-claiming reduction is calculated

Claiming is allowed starting at 62, but every month claimed before FRA permanently reduces the monthly benefit. SSA applies two different rates: the first 36 months before FRA are reduced 5/9 of one percent per month, and any additional months beyond that are reduced a smaller 5/12 of one percent per month. Someone whose FRA is a full 5 years (60 months) past 62 hits both tiers — 36 months at the faster rate, then 24 more at the slower one.

Because the number of months between 62 and FRA depends on birth year, the resulting percentage of PIA (Primary Insurance Amount — the benefit payable at exactly FRA) at age 62 is slightly different for every cohort:

Claiming exactly at FRA always pays 100% of PIA. Claiming at an age between 62 and FRA prorates the reduction by month; claiming after FRA adds delayed retirement credits instead of a reduction (next section).

Delayed retirement credits — and why they stop at 70

Waiting past FRA increases the monthly benefit instead of reducing it. For anyone born after 1 January 1943 — every birth-year page on this site — SSA credits delayed retirement at 2/3 of one percent for each month claimed after FRA, or 8% a year. The rate is keyed to date of birth rather than being one national figure: births from 2 January 1941 through 1 January 1943 earn 5/8 of one percent a month (7.5% a year), falling to 1/12 of one percent for births before 2 January 1917 (20 CFR 404.313(b)(2)). The increase applies only up to age 70: there is no additional credit for delaying any further, so there's never a reason to wait past 70 to start benefits. Some of the credit earned in the year before your 70th birthday isn't reflected until the January after you start collecting, which is why an online estimate with every credit already applied (like the table below) can differ slightly from an early check.

Two worked examples, step by step

Both examples use the same person: born in 1965 (FRA 67) with a Primary Insurance Amount of $2,000/month — the same reference figures used on the Break-Even and 62-vs-67-vs-70 calculators, so the numbers stay consistent across pages.

Between the two claiming ages that's $1,080/month, or 77.1% more every month for waiting eight years — permanently, before COLAs. Delaying also means eight fewer years of payments, so the two strategies converge around a break-even age; the break-even calculator models exactly when the extra monthly amount catches up to the years of payments given up.

Working before FRA: the retirement earnings test

Claiming before FRA while still earning wages or self-employment income can trigger SSA's retirement earnings test, which temporarily withholds part of the benefit. Two different exempt amounts and two different withholding rates apply, depending on the year:

• In every year before the year you reach FRA, SSA withholds $1 for every $2 earned above an annual exempt amount — $24,480 for 2026.
• In the calendar year you reach FRA — counting only earnings in the months before the month you turn FRA — the exempt amount is higher, $65,160 for 2026, and SSA withholds $1 for every $3 over that amount instead.
• Once you reach FRA, the earnings test stops entirely — there is no limit on how much you can earn.

Withheld benefits are not lost. SSA recalculates the benefit at FRA to give credit for the months withheld, so working while claiming early trades a temporarily lower check now for a permanently higher one later — not a forfeited amount.

Spousal and survivor benefits use different FRA rules

A spousal benefit is based on the spouse's own FRA, not the worker's, but the early-claiming reduction is steeper: SSA applies the age reduction on top of the automatic 50%-of-PIA ceiling. For the $2,000 PIA / FRA 67 example above, the maximum spousal benefit at FRA is $1,000/month (50% of the worker's PIA); claimed at 62 instead, it falls to about $650/month — a bigger proportional cut than the worker's own 62-vs-FRA reduction.

Survivor benefits follow a third schedule entirely. A widow(er) can start survivor benefits as early as age 60, at 71.5% of the deceased worker's benefit, rising toward 100% at the survivor's own Full Retirement Age for Survivor benefits — which SSA calculates separately from retirement FRA and which is not always the same age. For someone born in 1958, retirement FRA is 66 and 8 months, while survivor FRA is 66 and 4 months — 4 months earlier.

Medicare enrolls at 65 — a separate deadline from FRA

It's easy to conflate the two because both involve "when do I sign up," but Medicare's Initial Enrollment Period is fixed to the 65th birthday, not FRA: it runs for seven months — the three months before the birthday month, the birthday month itself, and three months after. Missing that window without qualifying employer coverage can mean a permanent, escalating late-enrollment penalty added to Part B and Part D premiums, regardless of when Social Security retirement benefits are claimed. Someone delaying Social Security to 70 for the credits above should still sign up for Medicare at 65 on its own schedule.

Browse by exact birth year

Each page below shows the full reduction and delayed-credit percentage at every claiming age from 62 to 70 for that specific birth year, plus a preset calculator.

• Born in 1955
• Born in 1956
• Born in 1957
• Born in 1958
• Born in 1959
• Born in 1960
• Born in 1961
• Born in 1962
• Born in 1963
• Born in 1964
• Born in 1965

Full retirement age questions