The Social Security Retirement Age: In Brief
Gary Sidor
Information Research Specialist
January 23, 2014
The House Ways and Means Committee is making available this version of this Congressional Research Service
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Introduction–Retired Worker Benefits
Two important ages may affect a worker’s plans to claim Social Security retired-worker benefits.
Workers may claim full Social Security benefits at the full retirement age (FRA), which is rising
gradually to the age of 67 for workers who were born in 1960 or later. Retired workers may claim
benefits as early as the age of 62, which is known as the early eligibility age (EEA). Social
Security benefits are reduced, however, for every month that retired worker benefits are claimed
before the FRA.
Full Retirement Age
The FRA is the earliest age at which workers can claim full, unreduced Social Security retired-
worker benefits.1 The FRA is also referred to as the “normal retirement age” in some publications.
For most of Social Security’s history, the FRA has been 65. Why was the age of 65 chosen for the
FRA? According to Robert Myers, who worked on the creation of the Social Security program
beginning in 1934 and later served in various senior and appointed capacities at the Social
Security Administration, “why not?” Myers wrote, “Age 65 was picked because 60 was too
young and 70 was too old. So we split the difference.”2
The 1983 Social Security Amendments3 included a provision to raise the full retirement age
gradually to 67, beginning with people born in 1938 or later. Table 1 shows FRAs for different
birth years under current law. The table also shows the FRA is 66 for persons born in 1943-1954
and rises in two-month intervals to 67 for those born in 1960 or later.
Table 1. Age to Receive Full Social Security Benefits
Year of Birth
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
1943-1954
66
1955
66 and 2 months
1956
66 and 4 months
1957
66 and 6 months

1 For a description of the Social Security benefit calculation, see CRS Report R41479, Social Security: Revisiting
Benefits for Spouses and Survivors, by Dawn Nuschler.
2 Robert J. Myers and Richard L. Vernaci, Within the System: My Half Century in Social Security (Winsted, CT:
ACTEX Publications, 1992), pp. 93-94. Although the age of 65 has been linked to German Chancellor Otto von
Bismark, who set up Germany’s social security system in the 1880s, in fact, the German system’s initial retirement age
was 70. In the United States before the passage of the Social Security Act in 1935, 28 states and two territories paid
pensions (often very low) with retirement ages generally set at 65 or 70.
3 P.L. 98-21, the Social Security Amendments of 1983, signed April 20, 1983.
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The Social Security Retirement Age: In Brief

Year of Birth
Full Retirement Age
1958
66 and 8 months
1959
66 and 10 months
1960 and later
67
Source: Social Security Administration, http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/retirechart.htm.
Note: The ful retirement age birth-year schedule is different for survivors of covered workers. For more
information, see http://www.socialsecurity.gov/survivorplan/survivorchartred.htm#chart.
Early Eligibility Age
Retired workers are eligible to claim Social Security benefits as early as the age of 62, which is
known as the early eligibility age (EEA).4 The EEA is sometimes referred to as the early
retirement age (ERA).
Currently, the ERA is 62 for retired workers and their spouses. Different rules apply to surviving
spouses. Widow(er)s and divorced widow(er)s may claim survivor benefits as early as age 60.
Disabled widow(er)s and disabled divorced widow(er)s may claim survivor benefits as early as
age 50.
Actuarial Modification to Benefits for Workers Who
Claim Benefits Before or After the FRA
Actuarial adjustments to benefits claimed before or after the FRA are intended to provide the
worker with roughly the same total lifetime benefits regardless of the age at which he or she
begins receiving benefits, and assuming he or she lives to average life expectancy.5 Therefore, if a
worker claims benefits before the FRA, his or her monthly benefit is reduced to take into account
the longer expected period of benefit receipt; if a worker claims benefits after the FRA, his or her
monthly benefit is increased to take into account a shorter expected period of benefit receipt.
An individual can see the effect of early or late retirement on his or her retirement benefits at the
following website: http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/quickcalc/early_late.html#calculator.

4 When Social Security was first established in 1935, it featured a single retirement age at 65, but no early retirement
age. The Social Security Amendments of 1956 (P.L. 880, 84th Congress) created an early retirement age for women, by
making retired-worker benefits available to women starting at age 62. The Social Security Amendments of 1961 (P.L.
87-64) made retired-worker benefits available to men beginning at age 62.
5 A beneficiary’s monthly Social Security benefit may be reduced by other provisions, including the retirement
earnings test (RET) which applies to workers who are below FRA and who continue to draw a wage or salary from
work after they have claimed Social Security benefits. For more on the RET, see Social Security Administration
publication, “Exempt Amounts Under the Earnings Test, http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/COLA/rtea.html. Two
other provisions apply to workers who have a pension from employment that was not covered by Social Security: the
windfall elimination provision (WEP) and the government pension offset (GPO). For more on the WEP, see CRS
Report 98-35, Social Security: The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), by Christine Scott. For more on the GPO,
see CRS Report RL32453, Social Security: The Government Pension Offset (GPO), by Christine Scott.
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Actuarial Reduction for Claiming Social Security Benefits
Before the FRA
When a worker claims benefits at any age between the EEA and the FRA, his or her benefits will
be reduced.6 The reduction for claiming benefits before the FRA is permanent. The reduction to
benefits taken before the FRA can be large. Consider a retired worker or spouse who claims
Social Security benefits at age 62. If the worker has an FRA of 65 (i.e., somebody born in 1937 or
earlier), his or her Social Security benefit would be reduced by 20%. If the worker has an FRA of
67 (i.e., somebody born in 1960 or later), the reduction to the Social Security benefit would be
30%. Table 2 shows, for a worker with an FRA of 67, the actuarial reduction taken if this worker
claims benefits at ages 62 through 66.
Table 2. Benefit Decrease for Early Retirement
(Worker’s FRA is 67)
Worker Claims
Actuarial Reduction to
Benefits at Age
Monthly Benefit Amount
62
30%
63
25%
64
20%
65
13 1/3%
66
6 2/3%
Source: Social Security Administration, http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/retirechart.htm.
Note: Widow(er)s of deceased workers, including divorced surviving spouses, may be eligible
for aged widow(er) benefits at age 60, or at 50 if disabled.
For a worker whose FRA is 66, the decision to claim benefits at age 62 results in a 25% reduction
in his or her initial monthly benefit amount (not shown in Table 2).
Delayed Retirement Credit for Claiming Social Security
Benefits After the FRA
Workers who claim benefits after the FRA and up to age 70 receive a delayed retirement credit
(DRC).7 The DRC is intended to compensate workers for the shorter expected period of benefit
receipt, by increasing the monthly benefit amount.
The percentage increase to benefits varies depending on the date of birth, as shown in Table 3.
Benefit increases apply for each month the worker delays claiming benefits, between the worker’s

6 Retirement benefits are reduced by five-ninths of 1% (or 0.0056) of the worker’s primary insurance amount (PIA) for
each month of entitlement before FRA up to 36 months, for an annual reduction of about 6.7% a year for the first three
years before FRA. For each month of entitlement before FRA in excess of 36 months (the 4th and 5th years of
entitlement before FRA), retirement benefits are reduced by five-twelfths of 1% (or 0.0042) of the worker’s PIA, for an
annual reduction of 5%.
7 Starting in 1990, the DRC was increased until it reached 8% per year for workers born in 1943 and later (i.e., the
DRC reached 8% starting with workers who attained age 62 in 2005 or age 66 in 2009).
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FRA and age 70. There is no further benefit increase after the worker reaches age 70, even if the
worker still delays claiming benefits.
Table 3. Benefit Increase for Delayed Retirement
Year of Birth
Yearly Rate of Increase
Monthly Rate of Increase
1933-1934
5.5%
11/24 of 1%
1935-1936
6.0%
1/2 of 1%
1937-1938
6.5%
13/24 of 1%
1939-1940
7.0%
7/12 of 1%
1941-1942
7.5%
5/8 of 1%
1943 or later
8.0%
2/3 of 1%
Source: Social Security Administration at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/retire2/delayret.htm.
Note: Persons born on January 1 of any year should refer to the previous year of birth.
A person born in 1950 (who reaches age 62 in 2012) has an FRA of 66, as noted in Table 1. If
this person claimed benefits one year after turning 66—that is, upon reaching age 67—his or her
benefit amount (monthly and annual) would increase by 8%. If this person delayed claiming
benefits until two years after turning 66—upon reaching age 68—his or her benefit amount would
increase by 16%.
Age Distribution of Retirement Benefit Claims
Figure 1 shows that approximately 47% of retired worker beneficiaries who claimed Social
Security benefits in 2012 were aged 62. Almost 63% of beneficiaries were under the age of 65.
Approximately 2% were aged 70 or over.
Figure 1. Age Distribution of Retirement Benefit Claims in 2012

Source: Social Security Administration, 2013 Annual Statistical Supplement, Table 6.A4,
http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/supplement/2013/6a.html#table6.a4
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Acknowledgments
This report was originally prepared by former CRS Analyst Alison M. Shelton. Please direct any inquiries
to the listed author.

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