Social Security Program Fact Sheet

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Our semi-annual Fact Sheet on the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) Program provides recent information on the number of beneficiaries and their average benefit amount, measures of protection provided by Social Security, and trust fund financial data. The latest Fact Sheet is shown below. To print the Fact Sheet, we recommend the PDF version.
FACT SHEET ON THE OLD-AGE, SURVIVORS, AND DISABILITY INSURANCE PROGRAM
A. Beneficiaries in Current-Payment Status, December 31, 2024
Type of benefit Number of
beneficiaries
[In thousands]		 Monthly
rate a
[In millions]		 Average
monthly
amount a
Total 68,456 $125,578 b
 Retired workers and their family members, total 54,348 104,656 b
  Retired workers 51,773 102,268 $1,975
  Spouses 1,862 1,733 931
  Children 714 655 918
 Survivors of deceased workers, total 5,786 8,942 b
  Children 2,051 2,325 1,134
  Widowed mothers and fathers with child beneficiaries in their care 104 137 1,316
  Aged widow(er)s, and aged parents 3,435 6,294 1,832
  Disabled widow(er)s 196 187 951
 Disabled workers and their family members, total 8,322 11,980 b
  Disabled workers 7,231 11,431 1,581
  Spouses 86 37 432
  Children 1,005 512 509
a Benefit amounts represent the monthly amount due to beneficiaries in current-payment status for December 31, 2024. These amounts exclude any adjustments to benefits for retroactive payments and certain payment withholding that may be attributable to eligibility in prior months. Therefore, these data do not represent total benefits paid from the trust funds.
b Because the benefit amounts for workers and for the various types of family members and survivors are based on different proportions of the worker's benefit, average monthly amounts for groups of these different kinds of beneficiaries are not meaningful.
B. Selected Categories of Beneficiaries (Included Above) in
Current-Payment Status, December 31, 2024
Type of benefit Number of
beneficiaries
[In thousands]		 Monthly
rate a
[In millions]
Disabled beneficiaries (OASDI)—Workers, disabled children aged 18 and over, and disabled widow(er)s 8,615 $12,881
Children (OASDI) 3,770 3,492
 Student children 93 98
 Disabled children aged 18 and over 1,187 1,263
 Children under age 18 2,489 2,130
Survivor children and widowed mothers and fathers 2,155 2,462
Beneficiaries aged 62 and over (OASDI) 59,770 114,753
Beneficiaries aged 65 and over (OASDI) 55,120 107,843
a Benefit amounts represent the monthly amount due to beneficiaries in current payment status for December 31, 2024. These amounts exclude any adjustments to benefits for retroactive payments and certain payment withholding that may be attributable to eligibility in prior months. Therefore, these data do not represent total benefits paid from the trust funds.
C. Average Monthly Family Benefits in
Current-Payment Status, December 31, 2024
Selected family a group Number of
families
[In thousands]		 Average
family
benefit b		 Average
number of
beneficiaries
per family
Retired worker alone 49,381 $1,968 1.000
Retired worker and spouse, aged 62 and over 1,756 3,102 2.000
Disabled worker, spouse under normal retirement age, and 1 or more children 20 2,822 3.864
Widowed parent and 2 children 31 3,719 3.000
Children of deceased worker c 1,353 1,475 1.321
Aged widow(er) alone 3,264 1,831 1.000
a A family means beneficiaries entitled on one worker's account.
b Benefit amounts represent the monthly amount due to beneficiaries in current payment status for December 31, 2024. These amounts exclude any adjustments to benefits for retroactive payments and certain payment withholding that may be attributable to eligibility in prior months. Therefore, these data do not represent total benefits paid from the trust funds.
c In most cases, the family includes a widowed parent whose benefits are withheld due to earnings.
D. Measures of Protection
  1. Coverage
    We estimate that about 185 million people will work in OASDI-covered employment in 2025.

    We estimate that about 94 percent of workers in paid employment and self-employment are covered under the OASDI program.

  2. Benefit receipt among the elderly
    As of December 31, 2024, we estimate that about 86 percent of the population aged 65 and over were receiving benefits, and that increases to about 92 percent for those aged 75 and older.

  3. Protection for survivors of young workers
    We estimate that about 96 percent of persons aged 20-49 who worked in covered employment in 2024 have acquired survivorship protection for children they may have under age 18 (and surviving spouses caring for children under age 16).

  4. Disability protection
    We estimate that about 90 percent of persons aged 21-64 who worked in covered employment in 2024 can count on monthly cash benefits if they suffer a severe and prolonged disability.

 

E. Operations of OASI and DI Trust Funds, Combined, in 2024
[In billions]
Calendar
year		 Fiscal
year
Income $1,417.8 $1,404.4
 Net payroll tax contributions 1,293.3 1,283.2
 Transfers from General Revenue 0.2 a
 Taxation of benefits 55.1 53.7
 Interest and other income 69.1 67.4
Cost 1,484.8 1,460.9
 Total benefit payments 1,471.4 1,447.7
  OASI 1,316.4 1,293.8
  DI 155.0 153.9
 Railroad Retirement transfer 5.9 5.9
 Administrative expenditures 7.4 7.3
Asset reserves, end of period 2,721.5 2,760.2
a Less than $50,000,000.

Note: Totals may not equal the sums of rounded components.