How much retirement income are retirees actually receiving from Social Security? Since everyone contributes a different amount of money to the program during their working years, each person's payment varies. For the record, however, the Social Security Administration reports this year's average monthly benefit is $2,071.
Still, that's an average made up of a range of numbers that vary widely based on age. So how much is the typical, say, 67-year-old getting? Keep reading.
The number(s)
Three inputs ultimately determine the size of your eventual Social Security benefit. One of them is, of course, the amount of FICA-taxable income you earn in your working years; more income means bigger benefits. Another is the number of years you earned taxable wages. You aren't required to work this many, but the program gives you credit for your 35 highest inflation-adjusted earnings years on record.
Thirdly, the age at which you claim benefits also plays a role in the matter. You can file as soon as you're 62. Doing so, however, lowers your payment by up to 30% than what you would have received by waiting until reaching your full retirement age, or FRA. Conversely, waiting until you're 70 to claim can increase the payment intended at your full retirement age -- 67 for anyone born in or after 1960 -- by as much as 24%.
So what's the number for 67-year-olds this year? It depends. The actual reported average monthly payment that all beneficiaries of this age are seeing this year is just over $2,070. It's a little more for anyone not eligible for a higher payment based on a spouse's work record, but it's $440 less for the few dually entitled retirees who are sharing benefits eligibility with a spouse.
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These numbers come with an important footnote, however. That is, they include a slew of people who claimed at the aforementioned earliest possible age of 62 and, as a result, permanently reduced their benefit payments.
Although most retirees choose to file before reaching their full retirement age, as of last year, the small crowd of people who didn't initiate their retirement benefits early and instead claimed when turning 67 are now collecting right at $2,600 per month. That being said, a fair-sized portion of this particular subset of retirees seems to be collecting a little more than this amount.
Just one piece of the puzzle (and not a specific one at that)
Regardless of how much or how little anyone is or isn't getting from Social Security, clearly nobody's getting rich from their benefits. They're only meant to serve as a minimal baseline of retirement income. You'll still want to save on your own as well to bolster these payments. All the same, if only for establishing a rough mental budget for your future, these figures are a solid starting point.
