If you were born in 1976 or later, your Social Security full retirement age is 67 under current law. That figure is set by the 1983 Social Security amendments and applies to everyone born in 1960 or any year after, with no further increases scheduled.
The reason this site keeps per-year detail pages for the 1955 through 1975 cohorts is that those are the years where claim decisions are either being made today or close enough that the planning math is no longer abstract. From 1976 onward, the FRA is the same flat 67. Calendar dates shift by birth year, but the underlying math does not.
Full retirement age
67
For everyone born 1960 or later under current law
Earliest claim age
62
30% reduction if FRA is 67
Max benefit age
70
Delayed credits stop here
Source
1983 amendments
Codified at 42 USC §416(l)
What FRA 67 actually means in practice
Full retirement age is the age at which Social Security treats you as entitled to 100% of your calculated benefit. It is not the earliest age you can claim, it is not the age at which Medicare starts, and it is not the age at which your benefit stops growing. It is one specific anchor in the Social Security rules:
- Claim before FRA: your benefit is permanently reduced.
- Claim at FRA: you receive 100% of your calculated benefit, and the earnings test stops withholding any of your check.
- Claim after FRA: your benefit grows by about 8% per year up to age 70. After 70, delayed credits stop.
For your cohort with FRA 67, claiming at exactly 62 cuts your benefit by 30% for life. Waiting until 70 grows it by 24% above the FRA amount. Every month between 62 and 70 produces a different result. The 1975 birth year claim age chart at the FRA 1975 page shows the full per-month math, and every other cohort with FRA 67 has the same percentages on a different calendar.
The honest read on reform proposals
Trust-fund solvency proposals have been in and out of Congress for years. Common features of the active ones: phase in FRA 68 or 69 over a long ramp, target birth years far enough in the future that the affected workers can plan for it, and grandfather anyone within roughly 10 to 15 years of claiming. Under that template, the cohort most likely to be affected by any near-term change is people born around the late 1970s and onward. People already 60 or older are usually exempt by design.
Two things to watch:
- Whether Congress actually enacts a change. As of the date on this page, nothing has been signed into law. Proposals discussed in committee are not law.
- Whether any enacted change uses a phase-in that grandfathers your specific birth year. The convention is yes, but Congress is not legally required to grandfather any cohort.
Plan around the law that exists, not around projections. If a reform passes, the per-year pages on this site (currently 1955 through 1975) will be extended forward to match the new schedule, the same way the 1955 through 1959 pages reflect the existing phase-in.
Why Medicare starts before your FRA
Medicare eligibility is age 65 for everyone, regardless of FRA. That means a two-year gap between Medicare eligibility and your full retirement age. Medicare Part B has a seven-month initial enrollment window around your 65th birthday: three months before, the month of, and three months after. Missing it without qualifying employer coverage can trigger lifelong Part B late-enrollment penalties. The Medicare enrollment overview walks through the window and the penalty math in detail.
If you were born between 1955 and 1975
Each of those birth years has its own page with the per-month claim age chart, dollar examples, the Medicare gap, and a cohort-specific FAQ. Your FRA matches one of those pages. Pick yours from the full retirement age chart by birth year, or scan the cards below for a few representative cohorts.
Full retirement age FAQ for younger cohorts
The questions that come up most often when current law fixes FRA at 67 but reform discussions are ongoing.