Full Retirement Age Chart by Birth Year (FRA)
Find your full retirement age by birth year
Your full retirement age (FRA) is the age at which you can receive your full Social Security retirement benefit, and it depends on your year of birth. The Social Security Administration provides a birth-year calculator and retirement-age chart so you can look up the exact age that applies to you (SSA: Full Retirement Age). If you were born on January 1, SSA instructs you to use the prior year for this calculation (SSA: Full Retirement Age).
What FRA means
FRA is the benchmark age for your retirement benefit. Depending on your birth year, FRA is between 66 and 67 (SSA: Retirement Benefits). Claiming before FRA reduces your monthly benefit, while waiting to apply can result in a higher payment, up to age 70 (SSA: Retirement Benefits). The official publication also distinguishes claiming before FRA, at FRA, and continuing to work beyond FRA (SSA Publication EN-05-10024).
Comparison worksheet: birth-year FRA lookup
Use the table below to find the full retirement age that matches your birth year. The rows come from the official SSA publication’s birth-year FRA table (SSA Publication EN-05-10024).
| Birth year | Full retirement age |
|---|---|
| 1943–1954 | 66 |
| 1955 | 66 and 2 months |
| 1956 | 66 and 4 months |
| 1957 | 66 and 6 months |
| 1958 | 66 and 8 months |
| 1959 | 66 and 10 months |
| 1960 or later | 67 |
If your birth year is not listed, use the SSA birth-year calculator to confirm your FRA (SSA: Full Retirement Age).
Next step: claiming-age decision
Once you have identified your FRA, the next question is when to claim. That is a separate decision that depends on your circumstances, benefit history, spouse or survivor issues, taxation, and work plans. For a separate early-versus-late claiming choice, use the decision page: Social Security Full Retirement Age Chart by Birth Year. (Social Security Administration)
This page identifies your FRA; it does not determine an individualized best claiming age. For a January 1 birthday, SSA’s calculator instructs you to use the prior year (SSA: Full Retirement Age).
Mike Spencer is the lead researcher at ssfaq.com, specializing in Social Security benefits, Medicare enrollment, and retirement planning. With years of experience analyzing SSA and CMS policy, he translates complex government regulations into clear, actionable guidance for retirees, near-retirees, and disabled workers. Every article is researched using official SSA.gov, Medicare.gov, and IRS.gov sources.