Social Security Claiming Ages — 62, 67, and 70 Explained

Social Security retirement benefits are calculated from your Primary Insurance Amount (PIA), which reflects your 35 highest-earning years of covered wages. When you claim relative to your Full Retirement Age (FRA) determines whether you receive your PIA, a reduced version, or an increased version.

For anyone born in 1960 or later, Full Retirement Age is 67. You can claim as early as 62, but each month of early claim before FRA reduces your benefit. You can delay past FRA up to age 70, and each month of delay past FRA increases your benefit through Delayed Retirement Credits (DRCs). After age 70, there is no further increase for delay.

Claiming before FRA reduces your benefit using a specific formula. The reduction is 5/9 of 1% per month for each of the first 36 months before FRA, and 5/12 of 1% per month for each additional month beyond 36.

For someone with FRA of 67 claiming at 62 (60 months early): the first 36 months cost 20% (5/9% × 36), and the remaining 24 months cost another 10% (5/12% × 24), for a total permanent reduction of 30%. A $2,000 PIA becomes $1,400 at 62, for the rest of the recipient's life.

Delaying past FRA earns Delayed Retirement Credits at a rate of 8% per year (2/3 of 1% per month). For someone with FRA of 67, claiming at 70 yields a permanent 24% increase above PIA. A $2,000 PIA becomes $2,480 at 70.

Combined with the early-claim reduction, the range between claiming at 62 and claiming at 70 can be substantial: the $2,000 PIA example varies from $1,400 (at 62) to $2,480 (at 70) — a 77% difference in monthly benefit, before any cost-of-living adjustments.

A common framing is "break-even age" — the age at which the cumulative benefit from claiming later surpasses claiming earlier. For the 62-vs-70 comparison above, break-even falls roughly in the early 80s depending on COLA assumptions and the discount rate applied to future benefits.

Break-even analysis is useful but incomplete. It ignores survivor-benefit implications (a lower earner's timing rarely matters much; a higher earner's timing protects the surviving spouse), tax treatment of Social Security income, the interaction with withdrawals from pretax accounts, and longevity uncertainty. The claiming decision is rarely a pure break-even calculation; it is a joint decision with withdrawal sequencing and spousal planning.