Social Security payments have been made to qualified seniors since 1937, and as you might expect, the program has evolved quite a bit over the years. So, let's take a look at how much retired workers in the United States received 50 years ago.
I won't keep you in suspense. The average Social Security benefit for a retired worker in 1964 was $77.57 per month, which works out to about $931 per year. But it's important to put this in context.
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The average Social Security benefit in 1964 in today's dollars
Obviously, there has been quite a bit of inflation between 1964 and today. According to an inflation calculator supplied by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) using CPI data, $77.57 in 1964 has the same buying power as $787.06 in 2024. So, the average retired worker in 1964 received a benefit of about $9,445 per year in today's dollars.
For comparison, the average retired worker's benefit today (as of July 2024) is $1,919.40 per month, or just over $23,000 per year. This means that the average Social Security beneficiary today has about 2.5 times the purchasing power of a retiree did 50 years ago.
One big reason for the difference is that the maximum amount of income that is considered for Social Security has also grown substantially. In 1964, this amount (known as the "contribution and benefit base") was $4,800, or approximately $47,900 in 2024 dollars. However, the actual 2024 contribution and benefit base is $168,600. In other words, more income can be used to determine Social Security benefits today.
