Social Security Benefit Disparities Among Age Groups: What You Need to Know
Who gets the largest Social Security checks?
If you're not familiar, the Social Security Administration bases your benefit on your average monthly income during your 35 highest-earning years. As inflation drives up costs, average salaries tend to rise as well.
Why are younger workers getting less?
Adults in the 70 to 74 age range above in 2022 were born between 1948 and 1952. Workers born during these years had a full retirement age (FRA) of 66. FRA is the age you must wait until if you hope to claim the full Social Security benefit you've earned based on your work history.
What can you do?
It can be stressful to think that you might get smaller Social Security checks than workers in previous generations because of a rule change. But you can still leverage the knowledge of how your claiming age affects your checks to maximize your benefit.
This article was prepared using information from open sources in accordance with the principles of Ethical Policy. The editorial team is not responsible for absolute accuracy, as it relies on data from the sources referenced.