Average Retirement BenefitsStarting January 2025

Average Benefits – All Workers

• 2025: $1,976/mo (+$69)
• 2024: $1,907/mo

Maximum Benefits for Workers Retiring at Full Retirement Age

• 2025: $4,018/mo (+$196)
• 2024: $3,822/mo

An 2.5% cost of living increase for Social Security retirement benefits and SSI payments begins with December 2024 benefits (payable in January 2025).

Increase your Social Security retirement benefits by 5-8% per year when you delay applying until you’re age 70.

Social Security Revenues & Expenditures

Revenue Sources = $1.35 trillion

• 3.7% – Taxation of benefits
• 5.0% – Interest
• 91.3% – Payroll taxes

Expenditures = $1.39 trillion

• 0.4% – Railroad Retirement financial interchange
• 0.5% – Administrative expenses
• 99.1% – Benefit payments

SOURCE: 2024 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance Trust Funds, Table II.B1.

2025 Social Security & Medicare Tax Rates

Your employer pays 7.65%

As an employee, you pay 7.65%

If you’re self-employed, you pay 15.3%

NOTE: The above tax rates are a combination of 6.2% for Social Security and 1.45% for Medicare. There is also a 0.9% Medicare wages surtax for those with wages above $200,000 single ($250,000 joint filers) that is not reflected in these figures.

• 184+ million people work and pay Social Security taxes
• Social Security has provided financial protection for Americans since 1935

Social Security Payments Explained

• Social Security (SS) retirement benefits are for people who have paid into the Social Security system through taxable income.
• Social Security Disability (SSD or SSDI) benefits are for people who have disabilities but have paid into the Social Security the system through taxable income.
• Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits are for adults and children who have disabilities, plus limited income and resources.

Maximum SSI Payments

How does Social Security work?

• When you work, you pay taxes into Social Security.
• The Social Security Administration uses your tax money to pay benefits to people right now.
• Any unused money goes into Social Security trust funds and is borrowed by the government to pay for other programs.
• Later on when you retire, you receive benefits.

How to qualify for retirement benefits

When you work and pay Social Security taxes, you earn credits toward benefits. The number of credits you need to earn retirement benefits depends on when you were born.

• If you were born in 1929 or later, you need 40 credits (10 years of work) to receive retirement benefits
• You receive one credit for each $1,810 of earnings in 2025
• 4 credits maximum per year

Did you know you can check your benefits status before you retire?

• You can check online by creating a my Social Security account on the SSA website. If you don’t have an account, you’ll be mailed a paper Social Security statement 3 months before your 61st birthday.
• It shows your year-by-year earnings, and estimates of retirement, survivors and disability benefits you and your family may be able to receive now and in the future.
• If it doesn’t show earnings from a state or local government employer, contact them. The work may not be covered within Social Security.