What Is Full Retirement Age (FRA)?

The retirement age at which you can receive full retirement benefits from Social Security is called the full retirement age (FRA). It's also known as normal retirement age.

FRA varies depending on the year you were born. FRA is 66 years and two months for people born in 1955, and it gradually rises to 67 for those born in 1960 or later. 

Claiming benefits before you reach full retirement age decreases them permanently.

FRA also applies to pension plans, such as employer-sponsored plans. Police officers, military service members, and other public servants typically receive full benefits after a certain number of service years rather than at a specific age.

Understanding Full Retirement Age

The official retirement age for full Social Security benefits in the U.S. is 67 for people born in 1960 or later. It's 66 for those born from 1943 to 1954, and 66 and two, four, six, eight, or 10 months for people born from 1955 to 1959. The retirement age increases by two months per birth year.

Disadvantage of Claiming Benefits Before FRA

You can elect to receive Social Security benefits starting at age 62, but claiming benefits at a younger age than your FRA will reduce your financial benefit permanently.

For example, your monthly benefit will be 70% of the benefit available at full retirement age if your FRA is 67 and you begin claiming benefits at age 62. You'd receive 86.7% of the full retirement benefit if you waited to start claiming benefits at age 65.

Advantage of Claiming Benefits After FRA

Your benefit will increase by 8% for each year that you delay claiming it after your FRA if you were born in 1943 or later. Waiting until you reach age 70 will yield the maximum benefit. There’s no reason to wait beyond age 70 because your benefits won't increase any further.

History of Full Retirement Age

The FRA was 65 when Social Security began in 1935. Legislation in 1983 increased the FRA for people born in 1938 or later to a maximum of 67 to account for gains in life expectancy.

Social Security’s trustees project growing deficits for the Social Security Trust Fund, drawing down its reserves to cover benefit payments. The combined reserves of Social Security's Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) trust fund and the Disability Insurance (DI) trust fund would be depleted by 2034, according to 2023 annual reports. This is a year later than the OASI trust fund alone is expected to pay full benefits.

Some lawmakers have cited concerns about the program's solvency in advocating a further increase in the FRA. Social Security's projected deficits could be addressed with benefit cuts, payroll tax increases, or a combination of those approaches. They might also be financed with debt alongside other deficit spending.

Average Retirement Age in the U.S.

The average retirement age for Americans has increased, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. Even so, Americans on average are retiring before they reach full retirement age. Men retire at an average age of 64.6 years. The average retirement age for women is 62.3 years.

The research from Boston College shows that the increase in the average retirement age has been fueled in large part by the later retirements of college graduates. Men with college degrees retire three years later than men who are high school graduates.

One major reason why both men and women who are high school graduates tend to retire earlier is that their health and life expectancy hasn't improved as much as those of college graduates. Their jobs also tend to be more physically demanding. They're not able to take as much time off as workers with college degrees.

Full Retirement Age Around the World

FRA around the world can be as young as 56 but it typically ranges between 65 and 67. It can differ for men and women in some countries.

• Australia: 65 being phased to 67
• Brazil: 65 (men); 62 (women, raised from 60)
• Canada: 65
• China: 60 (men); 50 (blue-collar women); or 55 (white-collar women)
• France: 62
• Germany: 65 and nine or 10 months (depending on birth year, and gradually increasing to 67 for those born in 1964 or after)
• India: 58
• Indonesia: 58 (gradually increasing to 65 by 2043)
• Japan: 65
• Mexico: 65
• Philippines: 60
• Russia: 61.5 for men (gradually increasing to 65 by 2028) and 56.5 for women (gradually increasing to 60 by 2028)
• South Korea: 62 (gradually increasing to 65 by 2033)
• United Kingdom: 66 (to be increased to 67 by 2028)

The Bottom Line

Full, or normal, retirement age is the age at which you can begin to collect your full Social Security benefits. The exact age depends on the year you were born. It's 67 if you were born in 1960 or later. You can collect Social Security benefits before you reach your full retirement age beginning at age 62, but doing so will permanently reduce your monthly benefit.