More Americans are filing for Social Security benefits early, according to a new AARP poll, and the increase is being driven primarily by concerns about the program’s financial future and anxiety about changes at the Social Security Administration (SSA). 
The trend could have serious consequences for Americans’ long-term retirement security, as claiming Social Security before the full retirement age (FRA) — currently between 66 and 67, depending on birth year — results in lower lifetime benefits.
Among Americans over the age of 50 who claimed Social Security earlier than planned or considered doing so in the previous year, 49 percent were motivated by media reports that the program is “running out of money.”
In reality, Social Security cannot run out of money because it is supported by a consistent stream of payroll tax revenue. The program’s trust funds are expected to run out of surplus cash by 2034, but even then, Social Security will continue to pay benefits, albeit at a lower rate.
Twenty percent of survey respondents cited customer-service concerns, such as SSA staff reductions and access to in-person services at Social Security offices, as reasons they claimed or intend to claim earlier, while 17 percent cited difficulty contacting the SSA online or by phone.
The AARP poll supplements research from the Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that monitors SSA filing data. According to Jack Smalligan, senior policy fellow at the Urban Institute, more than 2.3 million people filed for Social Security retirement benefits between January and July 2025, a 16 percent increase over the same period in 2024.
This marks a reversal of a decades-long trend in which older Americans are claiming Social Security later. Even people with higher incomes, who are presumably more financially secure and “have the greatest ability to delay claiming,” are more likely to begin Social Security at the earliest claiming age of 62, Smalligan says. That means accepting a benefit up to 30% lower than what they would receive at full retirement age.
Joel Eskovitz, senior director of Social Security and Savings at the AARP Public Policy Institute, described the findings as “concerning.”
“This is a lifetime decision, so you’re seeing a smaller benefit” year after year, explains Eskovitz. “If you don’t have any other retirement income, that can be really devastating.”
A ‘foot in the door’
Clint Banner intended to begin retirement benefits at 68, more than a year after his full retirement age of 66 and 8 months. That would have increased his monthly payment by more than 9% above his FRA level, according to Social Security’s delayed retirement credit system.
Similarly, his wife, Christine, planned to defer claiming a spousal benefit on his earnings record until she reached her FRA of 66 and 10 months.
But the North Carolina couple started getting nervous, Clint Banner says—about a volatile stock market biting into their savings and members of Congress warning that “we can’t keep Social Security going [because] it’s going to bankrupt us.” So the retired veteran and telecom engineer took his retirement benefit in late 2024, when he reached his FRA, while Christine Banner filed her claim in February.
“We’re going to end up getting less, but we wanted to have our foot in the door,” he boasts. “We were thinking that if they do some stupid stuff [to change the program], we might be OK in terms of being grandfathered because we were already getting it.”
The Banners are not alone in their fears, and for good reason: according to the most recent annual report by Social Security’s trustees, the surplus in the program’s trust funds will be depleted by 2034, as benefit payments outpace payroll tax revenue that funds the program.
If this occurs, Social Security recipients will still be paid from annual tax revenue, but they will only receive 81 percent of their scheduled benefits. 
Another June 2025 AARP poll of U.S. adults aged 18 and up found widespread confusion about the consequences of a trust fund shortfall.
More than one-third of respondents thought Social Security payments would cease if the trust funds ran out. Another third correctly predicted that benefits would be reduced, but nearly half of that group expected the bite to be 50 percent or higher.
If the shortfall did indeed spell the end of Social Security, “then the trend of early claiming [would] make some rational sense,” Eskovitz says. However, even “under the extreme worst-case scenario,” he points out, benefits would be reduced but not eliminated.
Nonetheless, AARP is working hard to avoid that scenario. To avoid a shortfall, Congress must increase revenue for Social Security, reduce overall spending on benefits (for example, by raising the full retirement age), or implement a hybrid approach.
The AARP has long urged lawmakers to protect and strengthen Social Security by acting now rather than later.
According to Eskovitz, there are valid reasons for some people to claim Social Security early, such as a sudden loss of employment that leaves them without income or poor health that may shorten their lifespan.
Concerns about Social Security’s solvency or management are not among them, he says. “You should think about your own personal circumstances.”
Boomer effect?
The SSA attributes the increase in claims primarily to the “peak 65” phenomenon, which refers to the last and largest cohort of boomers approaching retirement age. According to an agency spokesperson, this represents the “vast majority” of the increase.
The Social Security Fairness Act, passed in late 2024, restored or increased benefits for workers eligible for both Social Security and a government pension. Additionally, the SSA reaches out to people receiving spousal and survivor benefits about their retirement benefit options, according to a spokesperson.
In a May 2025 report on the rise in claims, the Urban Institute stated that while late boomers have increased the Social Security-eligible population, this increase is “not large enough to fully explain the recent surge.” The other factors cited by the SSA have led to an increase in claims for people over the age of 71, but “don’t appear to explain increases at younger ages,” according to the institute.
