You can start Social Security retirement benefits as early as 62 or as late as 70. The age you choose permanently changes your monthly payment, which is why "wait if you can" is common advice. It is good advice for many people, but not all.
How the numbers work
- Full retirement age (FRA) is 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later. Claiming at FRA pays your full benefit.
- Claiming early at 62 reduces the monthly benefit permanently, by up to 30% for people whose FRA is 67.
- Delaying past FRA earns delayed retirement credits of 8% a year (two-thirds of 1% per month) until age 70. Someone with an FRA of 67 who waits until 70 gets 124% of their full benefit.
Benefits are also adjusted each year for inflation, so a larger starting benefit means larger cost-of-living increases in dollar terms.
Why waiting can pay
Social Security is one of the few sources of income that is inflation-protected and lasts for life. Delaying is a way of buying more of it. For people who live into their late 80s or beyond, waiting generally produces more total lifetime income. It also protects against the risk of outliving savings.
For married couples, the higher earner's decision matters especially, because the surviving spouse can receive the larger of the two benefits. Delaying the higher benefit can increase income for whichever spouse lives longer.
When claiming earlier may make sense
- poor health or a shorter life expectancy;
- no other savings to live on while waiting;
- the lower-earning spouse in some couples, where the higher earner delays;
- needing income after losing a job late in a career.
Working while claiming
If you claim before FRA and keep working, an earnings test temporarily withholds some benefits above an annual limit. Those benefits are not lost: your payment is recalculated at FRA.
The trust fund question
The Social Security Trustees have projected that, without changes by Congress, the trust funds will be unable to pay full scheduled benefits in the 2030s. Their 2025 report projected that the combined funds would be depleted in 2034, after which incoming taxes would cover roughly four-fifths of benefits. Many people factor this uncertainty into their decision; Congress has changed the programme before when shortfalls approached.
Sources
General information about the law as it stood when this page was updated, not financial, tax or legal advice. Rules and limits change; check the official source or a qualified adviser before acting.