Why It Matters

Early Social Security claiming has dropped sharply over the past 15 years, even as proposals to raise the Social Security retirement age remain an ongoing debate in Congress, according to a new Congressional Research Service (CRS) report. The share of new retired-worker beneficiaries claiming at 62 fell from 52% in 2010 to 25% in 2025, while the share claiming before age 66 dropped from 81% to 54% over the same period. ​

The Claiming Age Clarity Act (H.R. 5284) has passed both chambers. If signed into law, the bill would require the Social Security Administration (SSA) to replace longstanding terminology, renaming "full retirement age" as "standard monthly benefit age" and "early eligibility age" as "minimum monthly benefit age," and designating age 70 as "maximum monthly benefit age," within 12 months of enactment.

The Big Picture

The Social Security Amendments of 1983 (P.L. 98-21) raised the retirement age gradually from 65 to 67 for workers born from 1938 to 1960. Under that schedule, the retirement age is 67 for workers born in 1960 or later, and the size of any benefit adjustment depends on how many months before or after that age a worker claims.

At a retirement age of 67, claiming at 62 yields 70% of the primary insurance amount (PIA), while claiming at 70 yields 124%, a difference of 54 percentage points. Reductions for early claiming are permanent, as are increases for delayed claiming, which stop accruing at age 70.

Supporters of raising the retirement age point to rising life expectancy, improving health among older workers, and job characteristics more suited to older workers. Opponents argue that longevity and health gains have not been evenly distributed across sex, race, educational attainment and income, and that an increase may adversely affect low-wage or less-educated workers.

Of approximately 3.5 million new retired-worker beneficiaries in 2025, roughly 875,000 claimed at age 62, based on SSA's Annual Statistical Supplement, 2026 (in progress).

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