What age do most people claim Social Security: 62 is still the single most common age, yet the typical new retiree now starts close to 66 and about one in eleven waits until 70.
Most people claim Social Security before full retirement age, and 62 is the most common single age. In SSA records for workers whose benefits began in 2024, 22.5% started at 62, 50.9% started before full retirement age, and 9.3% waited until 70 or later. The average starting age was 65.3 (Q3 tabulation of SSA data).
Key takeaways
- Of 3.71 million retired workers whose benefits began in 2024, 22.5% started at 62, the most common single age (Q3 tabulation of SSA Annual Statistical Supplement 2026, Table 6.B5.1).
- About 50.9% of those 2024 starters took a benefit before full retirement age; excluding automatic disability conversions, the early share rises to 58.1% (Q3 tabulation, SSA).
- Starting at 62 has fallen from 53.1% of new retired workers in 1998 to 22.5% in 2024, while 70 or later climbed from 2.1% to 9.3% (Q3 tabulation, SSA Table 6.B5.1).
- Roughly 347,000 retired workers started benefits at 70 or later in 2024, about four times the 87,000 who did so in 2014 (Q3 tabulation, SSA).
- 53.2% of the 3,921,537 retired-worker awards processed in 2025 carried an early-retirement reduction (Q3 calculation from SSA Table 6.B3).
- For anyone born in 1960 or later, full retirement age is 67, so starting at 62 pays 70% of the full amount and starting at 70 pays 124% (SSA).
Claiming age at a glance (benefits starting in 2024)
Q3 tabulation of the SSA Annual Statistical Supplement 2026, Table 6.B5.1 (Master Beneficiary Record, 100 percent data). SSA publishes the table for men and women separately; Q3 combined them by weighting each sex by its number of awardees. Entitlement year 2024 is used because the 2025 figures are preliminary.
What age do most people claim Social Security?
Most people claim Social Security before their full retirement age (FRA), and 62 remains the most popular single age. Among the 3.71 million retired workers whose benefits began in 2024, 22.5% were 62 when entitlement started, according to a Q3 tabulation of SSA Annual Statistical Supplement Table 6.B5.1.
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“Most common age” and “typical age” are different answers, though. Sorting every 2024 starter from youngest to oldest, the midpoint lands in the band between 66 and the FRA month, which for that group was 66 and several months. The average was 65.3.
| Age when benefits started (2024) | Share of all new retired workers | Share excluding disability conversions | Benefit as % of full amount if FRA is 67 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62 | 22.5% | 25.7% | 70.0% |
| 63 or 64 | 13.0% | 14.8% | 75.0% to 80.0% |
| 65 up to the FRA month | 15.4% | 17.5% | 86.7% to 99.4% |
| At FRA (new claims) | 13.6% | 15.5% | 100% |
| At FRA (disability conversions) | 12.4% | excluded | 100% |
| After FRA through 69 | 13.9% | 15.9% | 100.7% to 123.3% |
| 70 or older | 9.3% | 10.7% | 124% |
Q3 tabulation of SSA Annual Statistical Supplement 2026, Table 6.B5.1, entitlement year 2024, men and women combined (weighted by awardee counts). Benefit percentages from the SSA reduction chart for people born in 1960 or later and SSA delayed retirement credits of 8% per year.
What this means: roughly one in eight new retired-worker records is not a claiming decision at all. Disability recipients convert automatically to retirement benefits at FRA, and those conversions sit inside SSA’s FRA column. Stripping them out gives a cleaner read of voluntary behavior: about 58% of people who actually chose an age chose a reduced benefit, and only about 11% held out until 70.
For someone turning 62 today, the last column is the relevant one. The median 2024 starter claimed around 66; under an FRA of 67, a start at 66 pays about 93.3% of the full amount for life. Our guide on full retirement age by birth year lists the exact FRA month for each cohort.
How has the most common claiming age changed since 1998?
The share of new retired workers starting at 62 has fallen by more than half since 1998, and the share waiting until 70 has more than quadrupled. The trend did not move in a straight line: starts at 62 stayed near half of all new retired workers through 2009, then dropped steadily through 2020.
| Entitlement year | At 62 | Any age before FRA | At FRA (new claims) | After FRA through 69 | 70 or older | Average age |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 53.1% | 69.6% | 11.0% | 5.9% | 2.1% | 63.4 |
| 2004 | 52.4% | 75.2% | 9.6% | 3.2% | 1.3% | 63.3 |
| 2009 | 46.8% | 71.9% | 11.5% | 3.5% | 1.2% | 63.8 |
| 2014 | 36.6% | 59.5% | 14.5% | 6.7% | 3.1% | 64.4 |
| 2019 | 27.2% | 50.2% | 17.1% | 10.1% | 6.2% | 64.9 |
| 2024 | 22.5% | 50.9% | 13.6% | 13.9% | 9.3% | 65.3 |
| 2025 (preliminary) | 23.0% | 54.5% | 12.7% | 13.0% | 7.3% | 65.1 |
Q3 tabulation of SSA Annual Statistical Supplement 2026, Table 6.B5.1, men and women combined. Disability conversions (10.7% to 16.4% depending on year) are not shown, so rows do not sum to 100%.
In head counts, about 837,000 retired workers started at 62 in 2024, down from roughly 1.03 million in 2014, even though the total number of new retired workers grew from 2.80 million to 3.71 million over that decade. Starts at 70 or later rose from about 87,000 to about 347,000.
One caution applies to any year-by-year chart. Claim-year shares depend on how many people happen to reach each age that year, so a large wave of 62-year-olds can inflate the 62 share even if individual behavior is unchanged. The direction of the trend is clear; the precise size of any one-year move is less so.
Why does half of each new class still take a reduced benefit?
The early-claiming share stopped falling after 2019 largely because full retirement age kept moving. In 2019, 50.2% of starters were below FRA; in 2024 it was 50.9%, even though the share starting at 62 dropped nearly five points over the same span.
The explanation sits in the band between 66 and the FRA month. For workers reaching 65 in 2020 through 2025, FRA rises in two-month steps from 66 toward 67, per the footnotes to SSA Table 6.B5.1. Someone who starts at 66 now takes a small reduction instead of a full benefit. The share of starters in that “66, before FRA” slot grew from about 1% in 2021 to about 5% in 2025.
The award-action data tell the same story. Of 3,921,537 retired-worker awards processed in 2025, 2,086,585 (53.2%) were reduced for early retirement, up from 51.7% in 2024, a Q3 calculation from SSA Table 6.B3. The average reduced award was $1,713.42 a month versus $2,602.48 for unreduced awards. That gap blends the reduction itself with differences in lifetime earnings, so it should not be read as the cost of claiming early.
Planning angle: the 2026 FRA of 67 for everyone born in 1960 or later means “claiming at 66” is now an early claim with a permanent 6.7% haircut. Households that think of 66 as “full retirement” may want to recheck their own date on SSA’s chart.
Do men and women claim Social Security at different ages?
Women are more likely than men to start at both ends of the range. Among 2024 starters, 23.1% of women and 22.0% of men began at 62, while 10.0% of women and 8.7% of men started at 70 or later (SSA Table 6.B5.1).
The gap at 62 has narrowed sharply. In 2014, 39.2% of women and 34.2% of men started at 62, a five-point spread that shrank to about one point by 2024. Disability conversions were a similar slice for both sexes in 2024: 12.5% of male and 12.2% of female starters.
For married couples, the claiming age of the higher earner also sets the size of the survivor benefit the other spouse may later receive. That interaction is covered in our page on Social Security survivor benefits, so it is summarized here only as a reason some couples split their claiming ages.
How reliable is the newest year of claiming data?
The most recent year in SSA’s entitlement table understates late claimers and should be treated as preliminary. Because entitlement can be granted retroactively, SSA notes that current and prior years are revised with each annual update of Table 6.B5.1.
The revision is not trivial. In the 2025 edition, entitlement year 2024 showed 3.43 million new retired workers, 23.5% starting at 62 and 8.3% at 70 or later. One year later, the 2026 edition counts 3.71 million, with 22.5% at 62 and 9.3% at 70 or later (Q3 comparison of the two editions).
That is why this page anchors on 2024 rather than 2025. The 2025 figure of 7.3% at 70 or later is likely to rise as late filings arrive, much as 2024’s did. Any article citing “the latest year” without this caveat probably understates delayed claiming.
What does the typical claiming age mean for lifetime benefits?
The typical claiming age near 66 locks in a check a few percent below the full amount, while the most common age, 62, locks in 30% less for life. Under an FRA of 67, a start at 70 pays about 77% more per month than a start at 62, per SSA’s reduction and credit schedules. Benefit size also shapes the taxes retirees pay by income and age.
Which choice produces more lifetime income depends mostly on longevity, and that crossover math is worked through on our Social Security break-even age page. The decision framework for 62 versus 67 versus 70 lives in our guide on when to take Social Security; this page focuses on what other retirees actually do.
Two 2026 rules shape early claims in practice. Claimants under FRA who keep working face the earnings test: SSA withholds $1 for every $2 earned above $24,480 in 2026, per the 2026 COLA fact sheet (details in our earnings test guide). And the 2.8% COLA for 2026 applies as a percentage, so a smaller starting check also receives smaller dollar raises.
How does claiming age change taxes and the Roth conversion window?
Claiming age decides how many years a retiree has with little or no Social Security income, and those years are often the lowest-bracket years for Roth conversions. Once benefits start, each extra dollar of IRA income can also pull up to 85 cents of benefits into taxable income, per IRS Publication 915. For how many retirees depend on benefits for most of their income, see how many retirees rely on Social Security.
The provisional income thresholds of $25,000 and $34,000 for single filers ($32,000 and $44,000 joint) are not indexed for inflation, as SSA explains on its benefit taxation page. Our breakdown of the taxation of Social Security benefits in 2026 walks through the worksheet line by line.
Worked example: same IRA income, two claiming ages (hypothetical)
Consider a hypothetical single filer, age 63 in 2026 (born 1963, FRA 67), with a full benefit of $2,600 a month and $66,500 of traditional IRA withdrawals and conversions in the year. Starting now pays 75% of the full amount, $1,950 a month or $23,400 for the year. The figures use the 2026 standard deduction of $16,100 and the 12% bracket that ends at $50,400 of taxable income (IRS, tax year 2026 adjustments).
| 2026 line item | Path A: start benefits at 63 | Path B: delay benefits to 70 |
|---|---|---|
| Social Security received | $23,400 | $0 |
| IRA withdrawals and conversions | $66,500 | $66,500 |
| Provisional income | $78,200 | not applicable |
| Taxable Social Security (85% cap) | $19,890 | $0 |
| Taxable income after $16,100 deduction | $70,290 | $50,400 |
| Income taxed above the 12% bracket | $19,890 at 22% | $0 |
| Federal income tax (2026 brackets) | $10,175.80 | $5,800.00 |
Hypothetical illustration computed by Q3 using 2026 IRS brackets and the IRS Publication 915 worksheet. Not a projection for any individual.
Path A keeps $23,400 of benefits, so neither path is “better” on this line alone. The point is mechanical: with benefits flowing, the same IRA dollars push $19,890 of income out of the 12% bracket. Under Path B, the full $66,500 fits within the 12% bracket because there are no benefits to drag into taxable income.
The later years matter too. If conversions shrink the traditional IRA before benefits start, a 70-year-old receiving $38,688 a year (124% of the full amount, in 2026 dollars) with $5,000 of other taxable income would have provisional income of $24,344, under the $25,000 threshold, leaving none of the benefit taxable (ignoring future COLAs, which would raise the benefit while the thresholds stay fixed). This is the logic behind using the gap years for conversions, explored in delaying Social Security to fund Roth conversions and the retirement tax window. Sizing each year’s conversion is its own exercise, covered in how much to convert to Roth.
Two 2026 details can change the arithmetic. Filers 65 or older may claim a temporary $6,000 senior deduction for 2025 through 2028, which phases out above $75,000 of modified adjusted gross income for single filers (IRS Publication 6142). Required minimum distributions begin at 75 for anyone born in 1960 or later, which narrows the window between claiming at 70 and forced IRA withdrawals.
What the claiming data does not tell an individual retiree
SSA’s tables record the age at which benefits began, not the reasons, so they describe behavior rather than prescribe it. A 22.5% share at 62 includes people with health limits, job losses and small benefits, as well as those with deliberate plans.
The data also mixes very different households. A worker whose own record is small, a spouse planning around a survivor benefit and a high earner coordinating conversions can all show up as “66, before FRA.” A financial professional can model a household’s own record from its my Social Security statement, which is a better starting point than any population average.
Finally, a claim can be reconsidered in limited ways. SSA allows a withdrawal of application within 12 months of entitlement if benefits are repaid, described in our page on withdrawing a Social Security application.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most common age to start Social Security?
Age 62 is the most common single age. In SSA data for benefits that began in 2024, 22.5% of new retired workers started at 62, according to a Q3 tabulation of SSA Annual Statistical Supplement 2026, Table 6.B5.1. No other single age or band came close to that share.
What is the average age people start Social Security?
The average age at entitlement for 2024 starters was 65.3, combining men and women by their award counts. That is up from 63.4 in 1998 and 64.4 in 2014, per a Q3 tabulation of SSA Table 6.B5.1. The preliminary 2025 average is 65.1 and may rise as late filings are added.
What percentage of people wait until 70 to claim Social Security?
About 9.3% of retired workers whose benefits began in 2024 started at 70 or later, up from 3.1% in 2014 and 2.1% in 1998. Excluding automatic disability conversions, the share is about 10.7%. That works out to roughly 347,000 people in 2024 (Q3 tabulation of SSA data).
What is the smartest age to collect Social Security?
No single age is smartest for everyone. Under an FRA of 67, starting at 62 pays 70% of the full benefit and starting at 70 pays 124%, so the trade depends on longevity, other income, marital status and taxes. Many households compare the years before claiming against Roth conversion opportunities when choosing an age.
Is Social Security based on your last 10 years of work?
No. Retirement benefits are based on your highest 35 years of earnings, indexed for wage growth, which SSA converts into average indexed monthly earnings. For people first eligible in 2026, the benefit formula uses bend points of $1,286 and $7,749, per SSA. Years with no earnings count as zeros if you have fewer than 35.
How much Social Security will I get at age 62 if I make $50,000 a year?
As a rough hypothetical, someone first eligible in 2026 with 35 years of indexed earnings averaging $50,000 would have a full benefit near $2,079 a month under the 2026 bend points. Starting at 62 with an FRA of 67 pays 70% of that, about $1,455 a month. Actual figures depend on the full earnings record shown in my Social Security.
How much do you have to make to get $4,000 a month in Social Security?
A $4,000 monthly benefit is close to the 2026 maximum of $4,152 for a worker retiring at FRA, per SSA. Reaching it generally requires earnings at or near the taxable maximum, $184,500 in 2026, for most of 35 years. Delaying past FRA lowers the earnings needed, because delayed credits add 8% a year until 70.
This article is for educational purposes only and is not individualized investment, tax, or legal advice. Consult a qualified professional about your specific situation.
