Full Retirement Age Lookup
Your full retirement age is set by the year you were born, from 65 for people born before 1938 to 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later. Enter your birth year to see yours, the whole statutory table it comes from, and what claiming at 62 or at 70 would do to your benefit.
Works offline — your inputs never leave this device. How that works
Your birth year
Nothing else affects your full retirement age — not your earnings, not your state, not when you stopped working.
The monthly figure at full retirement age, taken from your own Social Security statement at ssa.gov. We use the number the agency gave you rather than estimating our own, so this can never disagree with what SSA tells you.
Your full retirement age
Born in 1960
67
From the published row "1960 and later"
If you claim at 62
70%
$1,400 a month, permanently reduced
If you wait until 70
124%
$2,480 a month
Full retirement age is the point the whole system is measured from. Claim before it and the benefit is reduced for good; wait past it and delayed credits build at 8% a year until 70. It is also the month the earnings test stops applying, which matters if you are still working.
If you were born on January 1, use the row above yours
Birthday rule for the full-retirement-age table: SSA figures your benefit and your full retirement age as if your birthday were in the previous month, so someone born on January 1 uses the PREVIOUS year's row.
Everyone born on January 1 of 1960 therefore reads the 1959 row, and can end up with a full retirement age two months earlier than their neighbors born a day later.
The full statutory table
Printed in full so you can check the answer above against the row it came from. The two-month steps between 1955 and 1959 are the 1983 amendments phasing the age up from 65 to 67.
| Year of birth | Full retirement age | Benefit at 62 | Benefit at 70 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1937 or earlier | 65 | 80% | 140% |
| 1938 | 65 and 2 months | 79.2% | 138.7% |
| 1939 | 65 and 4 months | 78.3% | 137.3% |
| 1940 | 65 and 6 months | 77.5% | 136% |
| 1941 | 65 and 8 months | 76.7% | 134.7% |
| 1942 | 65 and 10 months | 75.8% | 133.3% |
| 1943-1954 | 66 | 75% | 132% |
| 1955 | 66 and 2 months | 74.2% | 130.7% |
| 1956 | 66 and 4 months | 73.3% | 129.3% |
| 1957 | 66 and 6 months | 72.5% | 128% |
| 1958 | 66 and 8 months | 71.7% | 126.7% |
| 1959 | 66 and 10 months | 70.8% | 125.3% |
| 1960 and lateryour row | 67 | 70% | 124% |
The 62 and 70 columns are computed from each row's own full retirement age: the reduction is five-ninths of one percent a month for the first 36 months early and five-twelfths of one percent a month beyond that, and delayed credits are 8% a year. People with an earlier full retirement age lose less by claiming at 62 and gain less by waiting to 70, because there are fewer months between the two.
Full retirement age is not the Medicare age
Medicare eligibility is 65 for almost everyone, while full retirement age is 67 for you. The two were the same until 1983 and then drifted apart, which is why so many people arrive at 65 expecting one date and finding another. Missing the Medicare window carries a penalty that never goes away, and it is a completely separate deadline from this one.
Notes recorded when these figures were verified
- Benefits withheld by the earnings test are not lost. SSA: "We will recalculate your benefit amount to give you credit for the months we reduced or withheld benefits due to your excess earnings." The recomputation happens when you reach full retirement age, and it raises the monthly benefit from then on — so the earnings test is a deferral of benefits, not a penalty on them. Source: https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/whileworking.html (verified 2026-08-02).
- The combined-income thresholds for taxing benefits are NOT indexed to inflation. The $25,000/$32,000 figures were set by the 1983 Social Security Amendments and the $34,000/$44,000 figures by OBRA 93; both still stand. SSA: "The income thresholds and taxable proportions set forth in the 1983 amendments and modified under OBRA 93 remain in effect today. Because the taxable-income thresholds are not indexed to changes in prices or wages in the national economy, the taxable proportion of aggregate benefit income has risen over time." Source: https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/issuepapers/ip2015-02.html (verified 2026-08-02). The four dollar figures themselves are transcribed from https://www.ssa.gov/oact/progdata/taxbenefits.html.
- The earnings test only bites before full retirement age. Under FRA all year, $1 is withheld for every $2 earned over $24,480. In the year you reach FRA, $1 is withheld for every $3 earned over $65,160, counting only earnings in the months before the month you reach FRA. From the month you reach FRA there is no limit at all. Source: https://www.ssa.gov/cola/ and https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/whileworking.html (verified 2026-08-02).
- Birthday rule for the full-retirement-age table: SSA figures your benefit and your full retirement age as if your birthday were in the previous month, so someone born on January 1 uses the PREVIOUS year's row. Source: https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/agereduction.html (verified 2026-08-02).
- Early-claim reduction is 5/9 of 1% per month for the first 36 months before full retirement age, then 5/12 of 1% for each additional month — stored here at full precision rather than rounded, because the rounded form drifts by a few dollars a month over a long retirement. Source: https://www.ssa.gov/oact/quickcalc/earlyretire.html footnote c (verified 2026-08-02).
- Delayed retirement credits are 8.0% a year (2/3 of 1% a month) for anyone born 1943 or later, and stop accruing at age 70. If you start benefits before 70, credits earned during the year you claim are not applied until the following January. Source: https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/delayret.html (verified 2026-08-02).
- colaHistory is keyed by the year the raise took EFFECT (the January payment), matching the "January 2026 -- 2.8%" list on https://www.ssa.gov/cola/. SSA's actuarial table at https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/colaseries.html keys the same series by the year the COLA was DETERMINED, so its 2025 row is this pack's 2026 row. Do not mix the two when re-verifying.
- Figures on this pack come from several SSA pages; sourceUrl names the primary one. Taxable maximum $184,500: https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/cbb.html. Quarter of coverage $1,890: https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/QC.html. Full per-figure quotes are recorded in docs/verification/ss-constants-2026.md.
Where to check this against the agency
This calculator is deliberately simple: one number in, a clear comparison out. These do things it does not, and all of them are free.
- Your Social Security statement (ssa.gov) ↗
The benefit figure every calculator here starts from. Sign in and read it off your own statement.
- SSA's own benefit estimators ↗
The agency's calculators, including the quick estimate and the detailed one that works from your earnings record.
- ssa.tools ↗
A free, independent tool that reads your earnings record in your browser and shows exactly how the benefit formula produced your number. Better than ours at that particular job.
- Open Social Security ↗
A free, open-source calculator that finds the claiming strategy with the highest expected present value, including spousal and survivor benefits. Where to go when you want the fuller treatment.
- Actuaries Longevity Illustrator ↗
From the American Academy of Actuaries: a probability range for your own longevity based on your health and habits, which is a more honest input than a single guessed age.
Verified 2026-08-02 against SSA — Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Information for 2026 (effective 2026-01-01)
Estimate only — not financial, tax, legal, or insurance advice. Only SSA can determine your actual amounts.
Official source: SSA — Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Information for 2026 ↗
🎓 Understand this tool
What it is
Tells you your full retirement age from your birth year, and shows the whole published table so you can see the row your answer came from. Full retirement age is the point at which you receive one hundred percent of your calculated benefit.
How it works
The table is set in statute. It is sixty-six for people born between 1943 and 1954, then rises in two-month steps for each birth year through 1959, and settles at sixty-seven for anyone born in 1960 or later. The lookup matches your birth year against the published rows rather than computing an approximation of them.
Getting the most from it
- Enter the year you were born — nothing else affects the answer.
- Read your full retirement age, and check the row it came from.
- Optionally enter your benefit figure to see what claiming at sixty-two or seventy would pay.
- Note the January 1 rule if your birthday falls on that date.
Reading your result
Your full retirement age is a reference point, not a deadline. You may claim from sixty-two and you may wait until seventy; this is simply the age at which no reduction and no credit applies. If you were born on January 1, Social Security treats you as though your birthday fell in the previous month, which can move you onto the previous year's row.
What it can't tell you
Full retirement age for retirement benefits is not the same as the age at which Medicare begins, which is sixty-five regardless of your birth year. Survivor benefits use a slightly different table. And knowing the age tells you nothing about whether claiming then is right for you.
Frequently asked questions
It depends only on the year you were born. Anyone born in 1960 or later has a full retirement age of 67. From 1955 through 1959 it rises in two-month steps from 66 and 2 months to 66 and 10 months, and 1943 through 1954 is a flat 66.
Related calculators
62 vs 67 vs 70
See what claiming at 62, at your full retirement age, and at 70 would pay each month and each year, worked from the benefit figure on your own Social Security statement. Includes the break-even math between any two of them, and an honest account of what that break-even age leaves out. Estimate only.
Break-even
Enter the benefit printed on your own Social Security statement and see the age at which claiming later overtakes claiming earlier, in plain cumulative dollars and again weighted by the chance of living to collect. This is an estimate, and the panel beside it names the four things a break-even age cannot tell you.
Earnings test
If you claim Social Security before full retirement age and keep working, some of your benefit is withheld once your earnings pass the annual limit. Enter your expected earnings to see how much. The part people are rarely told: what is withheld is added back to your monthly benefit at full retirement age. Estimate only.
Annual update alerts — new tax and benefit figures the week they drop
One email when the numbers change. Double opt-in, no spam, unsubscribe anytime.