Social Security Retirement Benefits — The Numbers

Average, 2026

$2,071

Maximum at FRA

$4,152

Retired workers

51,772,651December 2024

The 2026 adjustment

2.8%

A retirement benefit starts from the primary insurance amount, which the benefit formula computes from 35 years of indexed earnings. Claiming before full retirement age reduces it permanently; claiming after raises it through delayed retirement credits until 70. After that, the only thing that moves it is the annual cost-of-living adjustment.

SSA’s published after-adjustment average is $2,071; applying the adjustment to the before-average and flooring gives $2,071. The two differ because SSA averages individually adjusted benefits rather than adjusting the average — which is why this site never derives one from the other.

The full distribution behind that average shows the shape an average hides: 13.0% of retired workers receive less than $1,000 a month.

The other programmes

• Social Security Disability (SSDI)

  The disability rates, the work thresholds and how the COLA reaches a disabled worker.

• Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

  The federal benefit rate, the resource limits and why SSI has no Medicare premium deducted.

• Survivors Benefits

  Widow and widower rates, the family maximum, and how the COLA applies to a survivor payment.

• Spousal Benefits

  The spousal percentage of the worker PIA, the family maximum ceiling and the COLA.

• Children's Benefits

  What a child on a worker record receives, and the family maximum that caps it.

The rates behind these figures

• Average benefitsand the distribution
• Maximum benefit$4,152 at FRA
• Bend pointsthe formula
• SSI rateevery year
• The 2026 COLA2.8%
• Your amount24 FRA years too