Will my Social Security benefits increase if I continue working after FRA?

Yes, your Social Security benefit can actually increase! SSA will automatically review your earnings record each year and if your recent work income is high enough to replace a lower-earning year in your top 35 years (which determine your benefit), they'll recalculate and increase your monthly payment. The adjustment happens automatically and would be effective in January of the year following the year you earned the income. You don't need to do anything special to trigger it.

thats right they do increase it but dont get excited its usually pretty small like maybe $20-30 a month tops in my experience

Just to add a bit more detail, the SSA calls this recalculation an "automatic earnings reappraisal operation" or AERO. It typically happens around October of the year after you earn the wages. So if you're working in 2025, any potential increase would show up around October 2026 and be retroactive to January 2026. The amount of increase really depends on your specific earning history and what years are being replaced. If you want a more precise estimate, you can call SSA directly and ask them to calculate a potential AERO increase based on your expected earnings this year.

I tried calling SSA a few weeks ago about my COLA adjustment and spent TWO HOURS on hold only to get disconnected!!! It's IMPOSSIBLE to reach a human there anymore!!! It's like they don't WANT to help us!!

My husband worked for 3 years after his FRA and his benefit went up almost $175/month total over that time! But he was making around $120k so replacing some really low earning years from the 1980s. The increases weren't equal each year either - bigger the first year, smaller the next two. Depends entirely on YOUR earnings history.

Quick question to piggyback on this thread - does this same rule apply if you're collecting SSDI and you reach full retirement age? I've been on disability for 12 years but just hit my FRA last month and wondering if I should try working part-time now?

dont forget about taxes tho!! if your working full time AND getting SS your probably going to have 85% of your benefits taxed so factor that in

One more thing to consider - if you're planning to work for several more years, you might want to check your annual Social Security Statement online at ssa.gov to see your complete earnings history. This will help you identify which years had the lowest earnings that could potentially be replaced by your current $84,000 salary. The SSA uses your highest 35 years of earnings (indexed for inflation) to calculate your benefit, so you can get a sense of whether your current work will meaningfully impact those calculations. Also, keep in mind that only earnings up to the Social Security wage base count each year - for 2025 that's $176,100, so your full $84,000 will count toward potential benefit increases.

Great question! I'm in a similar situation - turned 67 last year and kept working. The good news is that your benefits can definitely increase through the AERO process others mentioned. What I found helpful was creating a my Social Security account online and downloading my full earnings history to see which years might get replaced. In my case, I had some really low earning years in the early 90s when I was starting out, so my current salary of $75k is definitely going to boost those calculations. One tip: if you do call SSA (and I'd recommend trying that Claimyr service someone mentioned to avoid the hold times), ask them specifically about your "bend points" - that's the technical term for how they calculate your benefit increases. The rep I finally reached was really helpful in explaining how much my specific situation might improve. Also don't forget to factor in the tax implications like others said - but even with that, any increase is still extra money in your pocket!