Social Security retirement age set to change in 2025

(NEXSTAR) – Among the changes Social Security recipients will see in 2025 is a higher full retirement age. The number marks the age at which workers become eligible to claim 100 percent of their retirement benefit based on lifetime earnings.

For years, the full retirement age was 65, but that changed with a law passed by Congress in 1983 to gradually raise that number to match the growing expected lifespan, according to the Social Security Administration. The full, or "normal" retirement age, has been creeping up steadily in recent years by two months for each subsequent birth year.

If you were born in 1958, for instance, you would reach the full retirement age at 66 years and 8 months, but if you were born in the following year that retirement age climbs to 66 years and 10 months. Recipients born May 2, 1958 through Feb. 28, 1959 will all reach full retirement age in 2025, AARP points out. For those born in 1960 and later, the retirement age will jump to 67.

Workers can elect not to wait until their full retirement age and start receiving benefits as early as 62, but at a reduced amount. Those who can wait until 70 to start taking benefits are rewarded with a higher benefit amount.

Among the other Social Security changes coming in 2025 are a smaller cost-of-living adjustment at 2.5%, down from 3.4%; an increase in maximum taxable earnings from $168,000 to $176,100; and appointment-based services at Social Security offices nationwide.