There is no single retirement age in South Carolina that applies to everyone. Most workers can keep their jobs as long as they want, and the age at which it makes financial sense to stop working depends on which system pays you: public employees in the state pension systems can draw a full benefit at 65 (or earlier with enough years of service), while private sector workers follow federal rules that stretch from age 59½ for retirement account withdrawals to 70 for maximum Social Security.
Federal law backs this up. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act protects workers 40 and older from being pushed out of a job because of age.1U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 South Carolina adds only two narrow carve-outs: magistrates must retire by the end of the fiscal year in which they turn 72,2South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 22-1-25 – Mandatory Retirement Age and judges in the unified judicial system face the same age-72 deadline under a separate statute. For everyone else, retirement is a financial question, not a legal one.
Retirement Age for State and Local Government Employees
Most South Carolina public employees belong to the South Carolina Retirement System (SCRS), administered by the South Carolina Public Employee Benefit Authority. When you can draw a full pension depends on which membership class you fall into, and that is determined by whether you were first hired before or after July 1, 2012.
Class Two: Hired Before July 1, 2012
If your SCRS membership started before July 1, 2012, you qualify for unreduced monthly benefits after 28 years of creditable service at any age, or at age 65 with at least five years of earned service. Five years is also the minimum to vest and receive any pension at all.3South Carolina Public Employee Benefit Authority. South Carolina Retirement System4South Carolina Public Employee Benefit Authority. Get Set for Retirement
Class Three: Hired On or After July 1, 2012
Class Three members need eight years of earned service to vest. The flat 28-year path is gone. Instead, unreduced benefits require meeting the Rule of 90: your age plus your years of creditable service must total at least 90. The alternative is age 65 or older with at least eight years of earned service.3South Carolina Public Employee Benefit Authority. South Carolina Retirement System A Class Three member who started working at 25 would reach the Rule of 90 at around age 57 or 58; someone who started at 30 would not qualify until roughly 60.
Police Officers Retirement System
Law enforcement officers, firefighters, and certain other public safety employees belong to the Police Officers Retirement System (PORS), which uses more generous age thresholds. Class Two PORS members can retire with full benefits after 25 years of service at any age, or at age 55 with at least five years of earned service. Class Three PORS members need 27 years of service regardless of age, or age 55 with at least eight years of earned service.5South Carolina Public Employee Benefit Authority. Police Officers Retirement System
Retirement Age for Private Sector Workers
If you work in the private sector, no South Carolina law tells you when to retire. The ages that control your money come from federal tax and Social Security rules.
59½: Penalty-Free Withdrawals From Retirement Accounts
Pulling money out of a 401(k), IRA, or similar account before age 59½ triggers a 10% early distribution penalty on top of regular income tax.6Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 558, Additional Tax on Early Distributions From Retirement Plans Other Than IRAs Two exceptions matter most. Under the Rule of 55, if you leave your employer during or after the year you turn 55, you can take penalty-free withdrawals from that employer’s plan (not from IRAs); public safety employees get the same break at 50.7Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Exceptions to Tax on Early Distributions You can also set up substantially equal periodic payments from any retirement account based on your life expectancy, but once you start, you cannot change the schedule until the later of five years or age 59½ without a recapture penalty.8Internal Revenue Service. Substantially Equal Periodic Payments
South Carolina does not add any state-level early withdrawal penalty, though distributions count as taxable income for state purposes.
62 to 70: Social Security
Social Security benefits can start as early as age 62, but claiming at 62 permanently reduces your monthly payment by up to 30% compared with waiting until full retirement age. Full retirement age ranges from 66 to 67 depending on birth year; for anyone born in 1960 or later, it is 67.9Social Security Administration. Retirement Age and Benefit Reduction
Delaying past full retirement age increases your benefit by 8% per year until age 70 through delayed retirement credits.10Social Security Administration. Early or Late Retirement After 70, there is no additional increase, so waiting beyond that point costs you money. In concrete terms: someone whose full retirement age benefit would be $2,000 per month at 67 would get $1,400 at 62 or $2,480 at 70.
65: Medicare
Medicare eligibility begins at 65 for most people.11Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Original Medicare Part A and B Eligibility and Enrollment This age also unlocks South Carolina’s larger retirement income tax deductions, covered below.
73: Required Minimum Distributions
Starting at age 73, the IRS requires you to begin withdrawing money from traditional IRAs, SEP IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, and most employer retirement plans. These withdrawals count as taxable income.12Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Plan and IRA Required Minimum Distributions FAQs Under the SECURE 2.0 Act, that age rises to 75 in 2033 for people born in 1960 or later. If you are still working past 73 and do not own more than 5% of the business, you can delay RMDs from your current employer’s plan until the year you actually retire, though IRAs require distributions at 73 regardless of employment. Designated Roth accounts in employer plans (like Roth 401(k)s) are no longer subject to RMDs at all, effective since 2024.
What Early Retirement Costs
Leaving before you qualify for an unreduced pension means a permanently smaller check. SCRS Class Two members can retire as early as age 60, with the benefit reduced by 5% for each year before age 65. A separate path lets Class Two members leave at age 55 with 25 years of service, with a 4% reduction for each year of service below 28.13South Carolina Public Employee Benefit Authority. Retirement Processes – Service Retirement Class Three members can also retire at 60 with the same 5% annual reduction for each year before 65.14South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 9-1-1515 – Early Retirement These reductions are permanent. They do not disappear when you hit 65.
Early retirees under the SCRS 55/25 path also lose access to cost-of-living adjustments and the State Insurance Benefits Plan until the later of age 60 or when they would have accumulated 28 years of service had they kept working.14South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 9-1-1515 – Early Retirement That gap in health coverage alone can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
Bridging to Medicare
If you retire before 65, you need coverage until Medicare begins. Options include COBRA continuation coverage from a former employer (up to 18 months) or a plan through the Affordable Care Act marketplace.15Medicare. COBRA Coverage South Carolina public retirees whose last five consecutive years were in a full-time, insurance-eligible position with a participating employer may continue coverage through the State Health Plan. How much the state covers depends on hire date and service: employees hired before May 2, 2008 with 10 or more years of service pay only the employee share of the premium, while those hired on or after that date need 25 years for the same benefit, with 15 to 24 years paying the employee share plus half the employer share.16South Carolina Public Employee Benefit Authority. Retiree Insurance Eligibility, Funding
If You Keep Working Past 65
Staying employed past traditional retirement age pays off, but a few traps catch people. If you are still covered by an employer plan when you turn 65, you can generally delay Medicare enrollment without penalty. If you are not covered by a qualifying employer plan and you skip signing up for Part B, you will pay an extra 10% on your Part B premium for every full 12-month period you were eligible but did not enroll. In 2026, the standard Part B premium is $202.90 per month, so a two-year delay would add about $40.58 per month permanently.17Medicare.gov. Avoid Late Enrollment Penalties
Continuing to work also lets you keep adding to tax-advantaged accounts. For 2026, the annual contribution limit for 401(k), 403(b), and governmental 457 plans is $24,500. Workers age 50 and older can add an $8,000 catch-up, bringing the total to $32,500, and workers aged 60 through 63 get a higher catch-up of $11,250 under SECURE 2.0, for a potential $35,750.18Internal Revenue Service. 401(k) Limit Increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA Limit Increases to $7,500 The 2026 IRA limit is $7,500, or $8,600 at age 50 and over.19Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – IRA Contribution Limits Starting in 2026, workers who earned $145,000 or more in the prior year must make their catch-up contributions on an after-tax Roth basis.
Why Age 65 Matters for South Carolina Taxes
South Carolina fully exempts Social Security benefits from state income tax.20South Carolina Department of Revenue. Retirees – Lower Your Individual Income Tax Bill With These Five Tips
For other retirement income such as pensions, 401(k) distributions, and IRA withdrawals, South Carolina allows a deduction of up to $3,000 per year for taxpayers under 65. Once you reach 65, that retirement income deduction increases to $10,000. All residents 65 and older can also claim a separate deduction of up to $15,000 from any South Carolina taxable income, reduced by whatever amount they already claimed on retirement income. For a married couple filing jointly where both spouses are 65 or older, the combined cap on that second deduction is $30,000.21South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 12-6-1170 – Retirement Income Deduction Combined with the Social Security exemption, many retirees with moderate incomes pay little or no state income tax after 65.