When to Claim Social Security Retirement Benefits

You can first receive Social Security retirement benefits at age 62, but beginning before your FRA permanently reduces the monthly amount. The reduction is 5/9 of 1% per month for the first 36 months early, and 5/12 of 1% per month for any additional months. For someone born in 1960 or later with an FRA of 67, claiming at 62 represents 60 months early — a permanent reduction of approximately 30%.

For example, a primary insurance amount of $2,400 per month at FRA becomes approximately $1,680 at age 62. That reduction applies to every payment for life (before cost-of-living adjustments).

Your full retirement age is determined by your birth year. For people born between 1943 and 1954, FRA is 66. For those born in 1955, it is 66 and 2 months, increasing by 2 months for each subsequent birth year through 1959. For anyone born in 1960 or later, FRA is 67.

At FRA, you receive 100% of your primary insurance amount — the benefit calculated from your 35 highest-earning years, indexed for wage growth.

For workers born in 1943 or later, delayed retirement credits increase your benefit by 8% per year (2/3 of 1% per month) for each year you delay past FRA up to age 70. Claiming at 70 with an FRA of 67 adds three years of credits — approximately 24% more per month than at FRA, and roughly 76% more than at age 62.

Delayed credits stop accruing after age 70. Waiting beyond age 70 to claim provides no additional monthly increase; there is no benefit to claiming past 70.

If you claim before FRA and continue working, the Social Security earnings test may temporarily withhold some of your benefits. For 2026, the lower annual exempt amount is $24,480. For every $2 in wages or self-employment income above that limit, $1 in benefits is withheld. A higher exempt amount — $65,160 — applies in the calendar year you reach FRA, with $1 withheld for every $3 above the limit (counting only months before the FRA month).

Importantly, withheld benefits are not permanently lost. After you reach FRA, SSA recalculates your benefit to credit the months for which benefits were withheld, effectively restoring a portion of the withheld amount over time.

Up to 85% of your Social Security benefits may be includible in federal taxable income, depending on your combined income (AGI plus tax-exempt interest plus one-half of Social Security benefits). The thresholds are not inflation-adjusted, which means more beneficiaries become subject to benefit taxation over time. Claiming age does not directly determine whether benefits are taxed, but higher monthly benefits increase the total subject to taxation.

A spouse who did not work — or who had lower lifetime earnings — may be eligible for a spousal benefit up to 50% of your primary insurance amount. The surviving spouse of a higher-earning worker can receive up to 100% of the deceased worker's benefit. Claiming your benefit early can permanently reduce the survivor benefit available to your spouse, which is a significant factor for couples when one spouse is much younger, in poorer health, or both.

SSA rules for spousal and survivor benefits are complex; coordinating claiming ages in a two-income couple requires considering both workers' records, ages, and health.

Medicare eligibility generally begins at age 65 regardless of when you claim Social Security. If you are not yet receiving Social Security at 65, you must actively enroll in Medicare Part A and Part B during your Initial Enrollment Period to avoid late-enrollment penalties. Delaying Social Security does not automatically enroll you in Medicare, and vice versa.

A break-even calculation identifies the age at which cumulative benefits from a later claiming age surpass cumulative benefits from an earlier one. But break-even age does not account for the time value of money, taxes, investment returns on early benefits, or the value of having higher income in very advanced age. It also does not capture the insurance value of a higher benefit against outliving your other assets.

For many households, the most important variable is not the break-even age but whether the higher monthly payment from delaying significantly reduces the risk of financial difficulty in very old age.

Enter your estimated benefit at FRA to compare monthly and cumulative benefits at age 62, your FRA, and age 70, including break-even ages and the effect of cost-of-living adjustments.