As 2025 approaches, another round of people will become eligible for Social Security benefits — and some will hit their full retirement age.
The minimum eligibility age for Social Security differs from the program’s full retirement age, which is increasing in 2025. It’s up to retirees when they begin to claim benefits, but holding off for a few years comes with larger checks.
In Wisconsin, more than 1.2 million people receive monthly Social Security benefits. Here’s what to know about the program’s full retirement ages for 2025:
When can you begin receiving Social Security benefits?
You can begin filing for monthly Social Security benefits at age 62. However, if you begin filing at this age, you will not receive full benefits.
At age 59½, you can also begin withdrawing from tax-advantaged retirement savings accounts, such as 401(k)s and IRAs, without the Internal Revenue Service exacting a 10% penalty tax.
What is the Social Security full retirement age?
Your monthly Social Security checks will be higher if you wait until your “full retirement age.”
The full retirement age increases a bit each year and is determined by birth year. It was originally set at 65, but the U.S. Congress passed a law in 1983 to gradually increase this age threshold to account for increasing life expectancies.
Can you wait until after full retirement age to claim benefits?
You can increase your benefits even more by waiting until after your full retirement age to claim Social Security. If you do this, your benefits will increase by 8% annually until age 70.
For example, people who filed for Social Security at the minimum age of 62 this year received a maximum of $2,710 in monthly benefits, according to the Social Security Administration. Meanwhile, people who retired at full retirement age were eligible for maximum benefits of $3,822. And people who waited past full retirement age and claimed benefits at age 70 received up to $4,873 this year.
What is full retirement age in 2025?
According to the SSA, individuals born between May 2, 1958, and February 28, 1959, will reach their full retirement age in 2025.
Here are the full retirement ages for people born in 1955 and later:
- 1955: 66 years and two months
- 1956: 66 years and four months
- 1957: 66 years and six months
- 1958: 66 years and eight months
- 1959: 66 years and 10 months
- 1960 and later: 67 years of age
What is the Social Security COLA for 2025?
Social Security also increases by 2.5% in 2025 to account for cost-of-living increases across the country, the SSA announced in October. However, next year’s cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will be the smallest it’s been in three years.
That’s down from the 3.2% increase granted in 2024, marking the smallest cost-of-living adjustment since 2021. For the average beneficiary, their monthly payment will rise by $50 next year, going from to $1,907 in January 2024 to $1,957.
When do Social Security and SSI checks go out in 2025?
Social Security checks are distributed on a Wednesday each month depending on the recipient’s birth day, while SSI checks are released on the same day for all beneficiaries. Due to a schedule quirk, January 2025 SSI checks will go out on Dec. 31, 2024 this year.
See the 2024 schedule and 2025 schedule for more details.
