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By Aliss Higham
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A new report has found that Social Security does more than any other government program to tackle poverty.
Why It Matters
More than 70 million people across the United States receive Social Security benefits, whether through retirement, disability or survivor payments. As of January 2026, the average monthly payment across all categories stands at $1,926. For many Americans age 65 and older, those checks make up the bulk of their income.
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What To Know
According to a new report from the left-leaning think tank Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), Social Security payments lifted an estimated 23.5 million people above the poverty line in 2024. That figure includes nearly 17 million seniors.
Using the official poverty measure for the United States and Puerto Rico, the group found that Social Security helped reduce the overall poverty rate to 10.9 percent. Without those benefits, the report indicates, poverty would be far more widespread, especially among older adults.
The data show that if Social Security payments were excluded, 37.6 percent of people age 65 and older would have incomes below the poverty threshold. With benefits included, that share falls to 10.3 percent.
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The report also found that with Social Security income included, senior poverty rates were below 10 percent in nearly two-thirds of U.S. states. In Florida, California and Texas, more than 1 million seniors in each state were lifted out of poverty because of the program.
The poverty line, also known as the federal poverty level (FPL), is the income threshold set each year by the U.S. government to determine who is officially considered to be living in poverty. It is based mainly on a household’s income and family size. If a household earns less than the set amount for its size, it is counted as living in poverty. The measure is used to calculate national poverty rates and to decide eligibility for certain government assistance programs.
Impact Across Age Groups
While the program is often associated with retirees, its reach extends well beyond seniors. The CBPP estimates that in 2024 Social Security kept 23,474,000 people above the poverty line. Of those, 16,994,000 were age 65 and older, 5,423,000 were adults between 18 and 64, and 1,057,000 were children.
The poverty rates shift noticeably when Social Security income is counted. Among children, the poverty rate was 16 percent without benefits, compared to 14.5 percent with them. For adults ages 18 to 64, the rate fell from 12.4 percent to 9.8 percent. The steepest drop was among seniors, where the rate declined from 37.6 percent to 10.3 percent once benefits were included.
In total, 6.1 million children lived in families receiving Social Security income in 2024. Benefits directly lifted about 1.1 million children above the poverty line that year.
Separate data from the Social Security Administration show that 2.4 million children qualified for benefits in December 2024. That group included roughly 1.3 million survivors, 900,000 children of disabled workers and about 300,000 children of retired workers.
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