Social Security Claiming Age: Importance, Claiming Behavior, and Trends

As BPC explained in a 2020 report: “A younger claiming age may yield higher expected lifetime benefits (e.g., because the claimant expects to live a shorter life than average), but an older claiming age may still be optimal because it provides income security if the claimant lives longer than expected and could provide a higher survivor benefit to a spouse. Conversely, for some, claiming later may maximize expected lifetime benefits, but claiming now might be optimal because it meets an urgent financial need that cannot be filled otherwise.”

All four considerations—monthly benefits, lifetime benefits, longevity protection, and immediate needs—are important, but individuals and financial advisors often underappreciate Social Security’s insurance value in favor of focusing on maximizing estimated lifetime benefits. Partially because of this, the distribution of claiming ages skews younger, with many choosing a reduced monthly benefit, and the most common claiming age being the earliest eligibility age of 62.

The distribution of claiming ages differs slightly between women and men, with women claiming slightly earlier, on average, than men—despite the fact that the average 62-year-old woman will live three years longer than the average 62-year-old man.

But Social Security claiming behavior has changed significantly over time. In 1998, 60% of people claimed benefits at age 62, and nearly 80% claimed before reaching their full retirement age (FRA). By 2022, the proportion of people claiming at age 62 dropped by more than half, to 29%, and the proportion claiming before FRA fell to 61%. At the same time, the proportion of people claiming benefits after FRA more than doubled, from 9% in 1998 to 23% in 2022.