How Pushing Social Security's Retirement Age to 70 Could Transform Your Benefits

The Looming Social Security Crisis

Within the next 8-9 years, the Old Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) trust fund faces potential depletion. Without congressional intervention, retirees could see a 20% reduction in Social Security payments. While this isn’t the first time America has faced such a challenge—Congress took decisive action in 1983—finding a workable solution remains politically contentious.

Several reform proposals are on the table: raising the payroll tax, increasing the taxable wage ceiling (currently capped at $176,100), expanding the labor force through immigration policy changes, or raising the full retirement age (FRA) to 70.

The Retirement Age Debate: What’s Really Being Considered

In September 2025, Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano acknowledged that “everything’s being considered,” only to walk back these remarks the next day. This mixed messaging reflects the political uncertainty surrounding potential changes to the system that millions depend on.

Raising retirement age to 70 remains among the most discussed yet controversial options. To understand what this shift would actually mean, it’s essential to examine its concrete impacts across different populations.

Who Bears the Heaviest Burden?

The research is clear: lower- and middle-income Americans would face the steepest consequences. Unlike wealthier retirees who often have supplemental retirement accounts to draw from, lower-income beneficiaries rely almost entirely on Social Security for their post-work income security.

The argument that Americans are living longer provides weak justification for this approach. While average life expectancy has indeed grown since 1983, this increase has been profoundly unequal. The wealthiest American men live 15 years longer than their poorest counterparts, and among women, the gap reaches 10 years. By design, those earning higher incomes receive roughly twice the monthly Social Security payment, compounding the advantage of their longer lifespans.

The Concrete Math: What Benefit Cuts Would Look Like

Raising the retirement age to 70 would slice roughly 20% from average lifetime benefits for new retirees—a figure matching what the Social Security Administration itself projects would be necessary if Congress fails to act. When Congress last adjusted the retirement age upward to 67 in 1983, this effectively amounted to a 13% benefits reduction compared to retiring at 65.

This matters because most people don’t retire by choice. Many face disability, health conditions preventing work, or caregiving obligations to family members. Those claiming benefits at the earliest eligibility age of 62 wouldn’t see the retirement age raised to 70 as mere math—it would eliminate their primary option entirely.

Who Might Avoid the Worst Effects?

Not all beneficiary groups would be equally affected. According to Social Security Administration research, only about 5% of disability beneficiaries and 11% of retired workers with disabilities would face the full impact of raising retirement age to 70, due to how their benefits are structured differently.

Surviving spouses might also receive partial protection through the “widow(er)'s limit” provision, which guarantees that surviving spouses never receive less than 82.5% of the deceased worker’s full benefit amount. While this doesn’t shield them from all reductions, it provides more protection than standard benefit cuts would allow.

What Happens Next Remains Uncertain

Nothing is finalized. Congress has successfully navigated previous Social Security crises and could do so again. The path forward likely involves some combination of tax adjustments, structural reforms, and potentially modified retirement age policies. For now, Americans wait to see which approach lawmakers ultimately choose.