Updated · Built and checked by the PlinzoTools team, formulas tested against published sources
Find your Social Security full retirement age (FRA) based on your birth year.
This tool looks up your Social Security full retirement age (FRA) -- the age at which you receive 100% of your calculated benefit -- based on the Social Security Administration's published birth-year schedule: age 66 for anyone born 1943-1954, rising two months per birth year for 1955-1959, reaching age 67 for anyone born 1960 or later.
Enter your birth year. Your full retirement age appears instantly.
The tool converts your birth year into a full retirement age using three ranges. Anyone born from 1943 through 1954 gets 66 years. For births in 1955 through 1959, the tool adds two months for each year after 1954, so 1955 gives 66 years and 2 months, 1956 gives 66 and 4 months, 1957 gives 66 and 6 months, 1958 gives 66 and 8 months, and 1959 gives 66 and 10 months. Anyone born in 1960 or later gets 67 years. The output is displayed in plain wording, such as years alone or years plus months.
Consider three people. Someone born in 1953 reaches full retirement age at 66 and can plan around that date. Someone born in 1958 reaches it at 66 and 8 months, so if they turn 66 in a given month, they need another eight months to reach it. Someone born in 1965 has a full retirement age of 67, regardless of month within the year. If the 1958 person wants to claim on the day they turn 66, they would be about eight months early and the benefit would be reduced; the claiming age calculator on this site can quantify that.
Because the schedule changed over time, two siblings born a few years apart can have different full retirement ages. Some people also confuse full retirement age with Medicare eligibility, which begins at a different age, or with the age at which the earnings test stops applying. If you claim before full retirement age and keep working, a limit on earnings can temporarily withhold part of your benefit, a rule that no longer applies once you reach full retirement age. The tool does not compute that; check the Social Security Administration for current thresholds.
Other benefit types may use a full retirement age related to your own record or that of a deceased spouse, and survivor benefits have their own age rules and reductions. The tool answers only the retirement-benefit question for the birth year you enter, so consult the SSA if you are planning around a spouse's or survivor's benefit.
For personalized estimates, the SSA website provides account statements based on your actual earnings history.
Yes, as early as age 62, but your monthly benefit is permanently reduced -- see the Social Security Claiming Age Calculator for the exact reduction (or increase, if you delay past FRA).
Not in this tool. It uses only your birth year, following the published schedule.
For births from 1955 through 1959 the age rises by two months per year after 1954, so 1957 adds six months to 66.
No. It is the age at which you receive the full calculated benefit. You can work at any age.
Your personal Social Security account on the SSA website shows estimates based on your earnings record.
Reference: Social Security Administration