Americans born in 1960 turn 67 in 2027, reaching full retirement age as the last birth year subject to Social Security’s stepped increase in that age. The agency’s own retirement-age chart shows the number moving in small increments across nine consecutive birth years, from 66 for anyone born through 1954 up to 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later, where it stops. Once this cohort clears the milestone, the standard retirement age holds at 67 for every birth year that follows unless Congress changes the law again. For a group already deciding when to file, the year carries real consequences for how much a monthly check shrinks or grows depending on the age chosen.
A Four-Decade Phase-In Reaches Its Final Step
Social Security’s full retirement age chart shows the increase moving in small increments across nine birth years: 66 for anyone born 1943 through 1954, then two additional months added per year through 1959, landing at 66 and 10 months for that final transitional group. The chart’s last row, marked “1960 and later,” is fixed at 67, with no higher figure listed for any subsequent birth year. That makes people born in 1960, who turn 67 during 2027, the group that closes out the phase-in rather than one more step along it.
The same page attaches a set of counting rules that decide which row applies to a given birth date. Anyone born on the first of a month is treated, for both the benefit calculation and the full retirement age itself, as though the birthday fell in the previous month. Anyone born on January 1 is instructed to use the prior year’s row on the chart. A worker also has to be at least 62 for an entire calendar month before a reduced benefit can start, so turning 62 mid-month pushes the earliest possible payment to the following month.
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What Filing at 62 Costs the 1960 Cohort
The same chart ties the higher full retirement age to a steeper penalty for claiming early. Someone born in 1960 or later who files at 62 waits 60 months short of full retirement age, the longest gap of any birth year on the table, and sees a $1,000 full benefit cut to $700, a 30 percent reduction. That compares with a 25 percent cut for anyone born 1943 through 1954, whose shorter 48-month gap left more of the benefit intact. A spouse’s benefit tied to that worker’s record is reduced further still, from $500 to $325, a 35 percent cut, under the same table. The agency’s footnotes caution that the spouse figure is calculated after an automatic 50 percent reduction is already applied, and that every percentage on the chart is approximate because of rounding.
The Trade-Off SSA Lays Out on the Same Page
The agency frames the choice in plain terms directly beneath the chart: claiming early means collecting a benefit for a longer stretch of years, while the benefit itself stays permanently smaller; waiting means fewer total payments but a larger monthly amount for as long as they last. Reaching 67 does not force a decision either way. A worker can keep waiting past full retirement age, up to 70, and each additional year of delay adds a permanent increase to the monthly benefit under the agency’s delayed retirement credits rules. Nothing about turning 67 changes that math for the 1960 birth year; the same trade-off between more months of smaller payments and fewer months of larger ones applies to this group exactly as it did to every cohort before it.
The same page flags one separate deadline that does not move with a retirement claim. Workers who plan to delay their retirement benefit past 65 are still told to apply for Medicare within three months of that birthday, since waiting longer can raise what Part B medical coverage and Part D prescription coverage cost for the rest of a person’s enrollment.
Two Calculators the Chart Itself Points To
SSA’s retirement-age page does not leave the birth-year chart as the only tool. It links out to a set of benefit calculators built for a specific birth date rather than a year-of-birth row, and to a life-expectancy estimator meant to help weigh how many years of payments a given claiming age might realistically cover. Both sit alongside the chart as the agency’s own suggested next step for someone in the 1960 cohort trying to move from the general reduction table to a decision based on an actual birthday.
A Survivor's Full Retirement Age Can Differ
The chart on the agereduction page describes a worker’s own retirement record, and the agency adds a specific caveat beneath it: anyone eligible for benefits as a survivor may have a full retirement age different from the one that applies to their own earnings history, since survivor benefits are figured on a separate age table. A person born in 1960 who qualifies both as a retired worker and as a widow or widower is directed to Social Security’s dedicated survivor-benefit guidance rather than the age-62 chart to see which figure actually applies to that claim.
No Further Increase Listed Under Current Law
The retirement-age table stops at 67 for the 1960-and-later row, with no built-in step to 68 or beyond written into the schedule the way the annual cost-of-living adjustment is. Any future increase to the full retirement age would require new legislation from Congress rather than an automatic update from the Social Security Administration. Until that happens, the chart the agency publishes today, current as of this year, is the one governing every birth year from 1960 forward.
The decision behind the number
Claiming at 62, at full retirement age or at 70 changes the monthly benefit permanently, and the break-even sits in a different place for every household.
The Social Security Claiming & Family Benefits Kit includes a 27-page kit, a six-tab calculator for claiming age, break-even and survivor benefits and the 2026 earnings-test rules.
Compare the claiming ages in The Social Security Claiming & Family Benefits Kit.
AI assisted in the reporting and drafting of this article, which a human reviewed before publishing.
David M. Keller is a finance writer based in Columbus, Ohio, covering personal finance and consumer-focused economic topics. He earned his degree in journalism from Ohio University and began his career reporting on local business and economic trends for a regional media outlet. Since then, he has contributed to a variety of online publications, focusing on clear, practical coverage of topics such as cost of living, debt, and everyday financial decision-making.
