Here's the Average Social Security Benefit for Retirees by State | The Motley Fool (2024)

Social Security is an important source of income for millions of retired Americans. In fact, nearly 90% of retirees say they depend on Social Security benefits to some extent, and more than 40% of workers nearing retirement expect Social Security to be their largest source of income, according to surveys from Gallup and MassMutual.

Those statistics make it important for current and future retirees to understand which factors impact their benefit income. For instance, the average retiree in Connecticut received about $3,983 more in benefits last year as compared to the average retiree in Mississippi.

But don't think that by moving from Mississippi to Connecticut, you can get that boost to your Social Security. Your state of residence does not directly impact Social Security payouts. Read on to see the average retired-worker benefit in all 50 states, and to learn why retirees in certain states receive more income from Social Security.

The average Social Security benefit for retirees in all 50 states

The Social Security Administration publishes monthly snapshots detailing the average benefit paid to different beneficiary groups. For instance, the average retired-worker benefit was $1,843.96 per month in October 2023.

The Social Security Administration also publishes a more detailed statistical supplement once each year. I pulled data from the most recent report to create the chart below. It shows the average monthly Social Security benefit paid to retired workers across all 50 states (and the District of Columbia) in December 2022.

Source: Social Security Administration.

As shown above, the average monthly retired-worker benefit across all 50 states was $1,825.14 in December 2022, slightly lower than the October 2023 average of $1,843.96. But the data is still useful in identifying trends. Here are three important insights:

• From the top down, the five states in which retired workers got the biggest Social Security benefits were Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and New Hampshire.
• From the bottom up, the five states in which retired workers got the smallest Social Security benefits were Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, New Mexico, and Kentucky.
• At opposite ends of the spectrum, the average monthly benefit in Connecticut was $331.89 bigger than the average monthly benefit in Mississippi. That means the average retiree in Connecticut got about $3,983 more income from Social Security during 2022 compared to the average retiree in Mississippi.

Social Security benefits are calculated based on work history, lifetime income, and claiming age. So discrepancies between different states must be related to one or more of those variables.

Why Social Security benefits are higher in certain states

While geography does not directly impact Social Security payments, there is an indirect connection between state of residence and retired-worker benefits. The median household income varies from state to state, and lifetime income is one of the variables that impacts Social Security payouts.

The chart below details the median household income across all 50 states in 2022.

Data source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Among the five states with the biggest Social Security payouts for retired workers in 2022 -- Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and New Hampshire -- all five states had a median household income that exceeded the national average.

Similarly, among the five jurisdictions with the highest median household income in 2022 -- Washington D.C., New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Hawaii -- retirees in four of the five got Social Security benefits that exceeded the national average. Hawaii is the lone exception, but it missed the average by less than a dollar, and the discrepancy is due to retired workers moving to and from the state.

The same pattern emerges on the low end of the scale. Among the five states with the smallest Social Security payouts for retired workers in 2022 -- Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, New Mexico, and Kentucky -- all five states had a median household income that fell below the national average.

Similarly, among the five states with the lowest median household income in 2022 -- Mississippi, West Virginia, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Kentucky -- retirees in all five states got Social Security benefits that fell below the national average.

Here's the big picture: The average Social Security retired-worker benefit varies widely across the 50 states, and differences in median household income are the driving force behind those variations. However, the median household income is not a perfect indictor because workers often relocate when they retire.

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