What Is The Average Social Security Check?

Social Security offers a monthly benefit check to many kinds of recipients. As of August 2025, the average check is $1,864.87, according to the Social Security Administration — but that amount can differ dramatically depending on the type of recipient. In fact, retirees typically make more than the overall average.

Here’s the average Social Security check by recipient, how much your check could grow over time as well as the maximum benefit.

Average Social Security check by type

While most people think of Social Security as a program just for retirees, it serves many other groups, including the disabled, spouses and minor children of retirees, as well as the spouses and minor children of deceased workers.

The amount that each group receives differs substantially. If you want to better understand how Social Security can fit into your retirement plan, you may want to consult with a financial advisor.

In fact, the average retired worker receives $2,008.31 each month — about 8 percent more than Social Security recipients as a whole. Here’s how the figures break down by recipient, as of August 2025.

Source: Social Security Administration, August 2025

The table shows the three major recipient categories: retirement benefits, survivor benefits and disability benefits. The totals from these categories approximate 100 percent. The sub-category below each shows the top recipient of Social Security aid for that category.

As you can see, retirement benefits make up the vast bulk of Social Security — 80.1 percent — with most of that going to retired workers. The remainder in this category goes to spouses and minor children of retired workers, who receive a check between $924.95 and $954.93 a month, on average.

Survivor benefits comprise 8.3 percent of Social Security benefits. The top sub-category is non-disabled widows or widowers, who receive an average of $1,865.74 each month.

Disability insurance comprises 11.6 percent of all Social Security payments, and the top recipient category is disabled workers, who receive an average $1,582.95.

Those benefits may not be entirely taxable, either. Some Social Security recipients can also avoid taxes — legally — on their benefit check.

Benefits rise with cost-of-living adjustments

While the Social Security benefit is a nice chunk of change, if it stayed the same over the next 30 years, its purchasing power would decline due to inflation. That’s why Social Security increases its benefit checks over time with a cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA.

This increase is based on one version of the consumer price index, which measures how much inflation has affected the prices that consumers pay for goods and services.

Usually, the COLA is relatively small, and the increase for 2025 was 2.5 percent due to higher inflation. That followed a 3.2 percent boost in 2024 and an 8.7 percent increase in 2023. In 2026, Social Security benefits are estimated to rise 2.7 percent.

Here’s the level of adjustments that recipients have enjoyed over the past decade.

Source: Social Security Administration

So what would your total check be if you started with a $1,000 benefit in 2015? You’d be receiving $1,318.03 in 2025.

What is the maximum monthly Social Security benefit?

The most you could receive from Social Security depends on a few factors: how much you’ve earned over your working life, when you begin to take your benefits, and your COLA increase. Over time, your benefits will increase if the COLA indicates an increase, of course.

The maximum initial monthly benefit for 2025 by retirement age:

• At age 62: $2,831
• At full retirement age: $4,018
• At age 70: $5,108

These figures assume a worker had steady earnings at the maximum taxable level since age 22. For 2025, the maximum taxable income for Social Security is $176,100, a number that usually rises each year.

Your benefit depends on how much you’ve earned, up to some maximum each year. And taking your benefit later in your life can also increase it substantially. Workers are able to claim a benefit early, at age 62, if they’ve contributed 10 years of work before they reach what’s called full retirement age, which can range from 65 to 67, depending on when you were born.

If you claim early benefits, your check will be less than it otherwise could be at full retirement or even later. If you wait until age 70 to claim benefits, you’ll receive still more each month.

In fact, the right age to claim Social Security is probably the single most debated topic about the program. A financial advisor can help you decide the optimal age.

To receive these benefits, you pay Social Security taxes of 6.2 percent on your income, up to the maximum tax income. Your employer pays another 6.2 percent of your salary into the fund, but if you’re self-employed, you foot that portion of the tax bill, too.

Bottom line

The average Social Security check was never meant to replace a retired worker’s full income, so it’s important that Social Security be only part of your overall retirement plan, not your single source of income. If you have years to go before retirement, it’s vital that you get started on saving and investing while you still have time working in your favor.

— Bankrate’s Rachel Christian contributed an update to a previous version of this story.