Social Security recipients will need to wait an extra two months to reach full retirement age starting in 2025. For people born in 1959, the full retirement age will now be 66 years and 10 months. The full retirement age is based on birth year.
It is the age when workers can claim their full retirement benefits based on their lifetime earnings. Those born between May 2, 1958, and February 28, 1959, will reach full retirement age in 2025. People born in 1960 and later who claim retirement benefits even a month before their full retirement age will get reduced benefits.
For example, someone retiring at full retirement age in 2024 could get a maximum monthly benefit of $3,822.
Retirement age adjustment for 2025
But claiming at 62 would result in a maximum of $2,710.
Those who can wait to claim benefits until age 70 can receive a higher amount. The full retirement age used to be 65. But Congress passed a law in 1983 to change it due to increasing life expectancy, says the Social Security Administration (SSA).
As of 2023, nearly 2.6 million retired residents in Pennsylvania were collecting Social Security benefits, reports the SSA. In addition, a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) of 2.5 percent, down from 3.4 percent, will start in January. This will increase retirement benefits by about $50 per month.
