The full retirement age for Social Security is shifting again in 2025, marking a continued transition that affects millions of Americans approaching retirement. For those born in 1960, the age to receive full benefits has officially risen to 67.

Why It Matters

The increase in the full retirement age (FRA) reflects a phased change that began with the 1983 amendments to the Social Security Act, intended to account for longer life expectancy and financial solvency concerns within the program.

The FRA is the age at which seniors become eligible to access Social Security retirement benefits without a financial penalty for retiring early.

What To Know

In 2025, Americans born in 1960 will turn 65—but they won’t reach full retirement age (FRA) for Social Security until 67. This is the latest benchmark in a phased two-year increase from the traditional age of 65 to 67, first enacted in 1983.

People can still claim Social Security as early as age 62, but doing so comes at a permanent cost. Early claimants receive a reduced monthly benefit—about 30 percent less than they would have at 65, now 67.

Waiting until FRA ensures the full benefit amount. Delaying benefits beyond FRA, up to age 70, further increases the monthly payment due to delayed retirement credits.

The Social Security Administration’s latest guidance outlines these differences: someone eligible for a $1,000 monthly benefit at age 67 would receive only $700 a month if they claim at 62.

If they waited until age 70 increases that monthly amount to $1,240—a 24-percent boost for delaying three years past the FRA.

Who Can Claim Their Full Retirement Benefit in 2025?

People born before 1960 can claim their full benefit in 2025, those born after—who will turn 65 in 2025—must wait until 2027 to receive their full retirement benefits at age 67, as confirmed by the Social Security Administration.

If you’re a bit older than those born in 1960, you can still claim earlier than 67:

• If you were born between 1943-1954, the FRA is 66 years.
• If you were born in 1955 – 66 years and two months.
• If you were born in 1956 – 66 years and four months.
• If you were born in 1957 – 66 years and six months.
• If you were born in 1958 – 66 years and eight months.
• If you were born in 1959, – 66 years and 10 months.

Why Does the Retirement Age Change?

The change, though decades in the making, is starting to hit more Americans who are now entering retirement. Nearly 4 million Americans are expected to turn 65 in 2025—part of the ongoing “silver tsunami” demographic shift of retiring Baby Boomers. This marks the last scheduled increase under the 1983 law.

Social Security Solvency

Social Security actuaries have long warned that the program is facing a projected shortfall. The trust fund for retirement benefits could be depleted by 2033, after which the system would be able to pay only 77 percent of scheduled benefits, according to a 2024 report by the Social Security Board of Trustees. Lawmakers are divided on how the shortfall should be addressed.

Republicans have supported the raising of the retirement age. In March 2024, prior to the presidential election, the Republican Study Committee, comprising 170 GOP lawmakers, published a budget proposal that would include “modest adjustments to the retirement age for future retirees to account for increases in life expectancy” to tackle the solvency issue.

Most recently, Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Representative Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, both Democrats, reintroduced the Social Security and Medicare Fair Share Act, which would impose payroll taxes on earnings above $400,000—an income segment currently exempt due to the existing tax cap of $168,600.

What People Are Saying

Michael Ryan, a finance expert and the founder of MichaelRyanMoney.com, told Newsweek: “This isn’t just a bureaucratic adjustment but a response to increasing life expectancies and the financial challenges facing Social Security.”

Boyle said in a press release regarding the Social Security and Medicare Fair Share Act: “This bill would protect Social Security and Medicare for generations by making the wealthiest Americans pay what they owe. While Republicans are pushing a $7 trillion tax giveaway to the ultra-rich, we’re working to protect the benefits that millions of Americans have earned—and we won’t let them be stolen to fund another billionaire windfall.”

What Happens Next

There are currently no recent legislative efforts to raise the FRA further, but future changes remain possible as policymakers seek to preserve Social Security’s solvency.

Source: newsweek