For decades, 62 was the runaway favorite age to start collecting Social Security. Back in 1985, roughly 60 percent of new retirees filed for benefits the moment they became eligible. But that era is over. By the mid-2000s, the share claiming at 62 had dropped below 30 percent, and by 2023, the weighted average claiming age for all newly retired workers had climbed to about 65 years. So no — 62 is no longer the most popular age to start Social Security, at least not by the margins it once commanded.
That said, 2025 threw a curveball. From January through July 2025, more than 2.3 million people filed for retirement benefits, a 16 percent jump from the same period in 2024. Fear about Social Security’s future solvency appears to be pulling people back toward early claiming, even higher-income Americans who could afford to wait. Consider someone born in 1962 who files at 62 instead of waiting until 67: they lock in a permanent 30 percent reduction in their monthly check, trading long-term income for the psychological comfort of getting something now. This article examines why age 62 lost its dominance, what is driving the recent reversal, how much money is actually at stake when you claim early versus late, and what the 2026 Social Security updates mean for your planning. Whether you are approaching 62 or advising someone who is, the data here should help cut through the noise.
Table of Contents
- How Did 62 Become the Most Popular Age to Claim Social Security — and Why Did That Change?
- Why Are Early Social Security Claims Surging Again in 2025?
- How Much Money Do You Lose by Claiming Social Security at 62 Instead of 70?
- Should You Claim Social Security at 62, 67, or 70?
- Common Misconceptions That Lead People to Claim Too Early
- What the 2026 Social Security Changes Mean for Your Decision
- Where Social Security Claiming Trends Are Headed
- Conclusion
How Did 62 Become the Most Popular Age to Claim Social Security — and Why Did That Change?
When Congress lowered the earliest eligibility age to 62 in 1956 for women and 1961 for men, it created a powerful default. For the next several decades, the majority of Americans treated 62 as the obvious starting point. The reasoning was straightforward: take the money as soon as you can. In 1985, six out of every ten new retirees did exactly that. There was little public discussion about optimization strategies, and many workers in physically demanding jobs simply could not continue working into their mid-to-late sixties. The shift away from 62 happened gradually and for multiple reasons. Full retirement age itself moved from 65 to 66 and then to 67 for those born in 1960 or later, which meant the penalty for claiming at 62 grew steeper.
Financial literacy campaigns, online calculators, and a growing body of retirement research all hammered the same message: waiting pays off. By 2019 and 2023, a much larger share of both men and women were claiming at ages 67 and older compared to prior years. The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College documented this trend clearly — the average claiming age rose by approximately two years over several decades. A married couple where both spouses delayed from 62 to 67 might collectively gain hundreds of thousands of dollars in lifetime benefits, depending on how long they live. However, the trend toward delayed claiming was never universal. Workers without pensions, those with health problems, and people in lower-wage jobs continued to claim early at higher rates. The shift was driven disproportionately by higher-income, college-educated Americans who had the savings to bridge the gap between retirement and Social Security.
Why Are Early Social Security Claims Surging Again in 2025?
The decades-long trend toward patience reversed sharply in 2025. According to AARP, more than 2.3 million people filed for Social Security retirement benefits between January and July 2025, a 16 percent increase over the same window in 2024. This is not a minor statistical blip — it represents a genuine behavioral shift that caught researchers’ attention. The primary driver appears to be fear. AARP found that 49 percent of older americans who started Social Security earlier than planned, or who plan to do so, cited concern that Social Security is running out of money. Over one-third of Americans incorrectly believe that payments would stop entirely if the Social Security Trust Fund were exhausted.
Nearly two-thirds do not understand what would actually happen, which is that benefits would be reduced to match incoming payroll tax revenue — roughly 75 to 80 cents on the dollar — rather than eliminated. This misunderstanding is consequential. Someone who claims at 62 based on a false belief that benefits will disappear is making a permanent financial decision based on incorrect information. What makes the 2025 surge especially notable is that even higher-income Americans are increasingly claiming at 62, despite having greater financial ability to delay. These are people accepting benefits up to 30 percent lower than what they would receive at full retirement age. If you are considering early claiming because you are worried about solvency, it is worth pausing to understand what trust fund exhaustion actually means before locking in a reduced benefit for life.
How Much Money Do You Lose by Claiming Social Security at 62 Instead of 70?
The financial gap between claiming at 62 and waiting until 70 is not subtle. The average monthly benefit at age 62 is approximately $1,424. The average at age 70 is approximately $2,275 — a 60 percent difference. Over the course of a 20-year retirement, that gap adds up to more than $200,000 in cumulative benefits, not accounting for cost-of-living adjustments that compound on a higher base. For anyone born in 1960 or later, full retirement age is 67. Claiming at 62 permanently reduces your benefit by up to 30 percent.
On the other hand, delaying past 67 earns you delayed retirement credits of 8 percent per year, up to age 70. That means the total swing from 62 to 70 is a 77 percent increase in your monthly check, according to the Social Security Administration. To put that in concrete terms: if your full retirement age benefit is $2,000 per month, claiming at 62 drops it to around $1,400, while waiting until 70 pushes it to roughly $2,480. The breakeven point — the age at which total lifetime benefits from waiting exceed what you would have collected by claiming early — typically falls somewhere between 78 and 82, depending on your specific numbers. If you have reason to believe you will not live past your mid-seventies due to serious health conditions, early claiming may make financial sense. But for someone in average health, the math strongly favors waiting, especially if you have other income sources to cover expenses in the interim.
Should You Claim Social Security at 62, 67, or 70?
This is not a one-size-fits-all decision, and anyone who tells you there is a universally correct answer is oversimplifying. The right claiming age depends on your health, your savings, whether you have a spouse who will rely on survivor benefits, and whether you are still working. If you claim at 62 while still earning a significant income, the earnings test reduces your benefit by $1 for every $2 you earn above the annual limit (which is $23,400 in 2025). Those withheld benefits are not lost forever — they are added back after you reach full retirement age — but the temporary reduction surprises many early claimers. Compare that to someone who retires at 62 with no other income and limited savings: for them, a reduced Social Security check may be the only thing standing between them and depleting their retirement accounts prematurely.
In that scenario, claiming early is not a mistake — it is a necessity. The tradeoff is starkest for married couples. A higher-earning spouse who delays until 70 locks in a larger survivor benefit for the lower-earning partner. If one spouse claims at 62 and dies at 75, the surviving spouse is stuck with the reduced amount. Delaying even to full retirement age at 67 — not all the way to 70 — recovers a significant portion of the gap and may represent a reasonable middle ground for people who are uncomfortable waiting eight full years.
Common Misconceptions That Lead People to Claim Too Early
The 2025 surge in early claims is partly a story about misinformation. The belief that Social Security will “run out” is the most damaging misconception in retirement planning. Even under the most pessimistic projections, the program will continue paying benefits funded by ongoing payroll taxes. The trust fund reserves provide a supplement, not the entire funding base. When those reserves are projected to be depleted — current estimates point to the mid-2030s — benefits would be reduced, not eliminated. Claiming early to “get yours before it’s gone” is a decision based on a premise that is factually wrong. A second misconception is that you can claim at 62 and then switch to a higher benefit later.
You cannot. Once you have been receiving benefits for more than 12 months, your reduced rate is permanent. There is a narrow withdrawal window in the first year where you can repay everything you received and essentially start over, but very few people use it, and it requires having the cash on hand to repay. A third issue is underestimating longevity. The average 62-year-old in the United States today can expect to live into their mid-eighties. Women, on average, live longer than men. If you claim at 62 expecting to die at 75 and instead live to 90, you have spent nearly three decades collecting a check that is 30 percent smaller than it needed to be. This is one of the few financial decisions where being wrong about your own death has compounding consequences.
What the 2026 Social Security Changes Mean for Your Decision
The 2026 cost-of-living adjustment is 2.8 percent, raising the average monthly retirement check from $2,015 to approximately $2,071. While this is a modest increase compared to the inflation-driven spikes of 2022 and 2023, it matters more to someone with a higher base benefit. A 2.8 percent COLA on a $2,275 check (the average at age 70) adds about $64 per month. The same percentage on a $1,424 check (the average at age 62) adds only about $40.
Over time, these differences compound — every future COLA is calculated on your current benefit, so starting with a higher base means every adjustment is larger in dollar terms. Full retirement age remains at 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later, so the penalty structure for early claiming has not changed. If you are turning 62 in 2026 and considering filing, the same 30 percent reduction applies. Nothing in the 2026 updates changes the fundamental math of early versus delayed claiming.
Where Social Security Claiming Trends Are Headed
The tension between the long-term trend toward delayed claiming and the 2025 spike in early filings will likely define the next several years of retirement policy debate. If Congress acts to shore up the trust fund — through some combination of payroll tax increases, benefit adjustments, or raising the cap on taxable earnings — the fear-driven rush to claim early could subside. If political gridlock continues and the trust fund depletion date draws closer without a fix, expect the early-claiming surge to intensify.
What is clear from the data is that the era of 62 as the default claiming age is unlikely to return permanently. The financial incentives to delay are simply too large, and awareness of those incentives is too widespread. But fear is a powerful motivator, and as long as a significant share of Americans believes that Social Security could vanish entirely, some portion of retirees will continue to claim early — accepting a permanently smaller benefit to hedge against a risk that, in its most extreme form, does not exist.
Conclusion
Age 62 was once the undisputed most popular age to start Social Security, with 60 percent of retirees claiming at the earliest opportunity. That dominance eroded over decades as the financial case for waiting became widely understood, and by 2023 the average claiming age had risen to about 65. But 2025 proved that trends can reverse quickly — a 16 percent surge in early filings, driven by solvency fears and misinformation, showed that emotional decision-making still plays a major role in retirement planning. The facts remain straightforward.
Claiming at 62 permanently reduces your benefit by up to 30 percent compared to full retirement age, and waiting until 70 can increase it by 77 percent over what you would get at 62. The average monthly check at 62 is $1,424; at 70, it is $2,275. For most people in reasonable health with other income sources, waiting pays off. Before you file early, make sure you understand what trust fund depletion actually means, how the earnings test works, and what your decision will mean for a spouse who may outlive you. This is a permanent choice — treat it like one.