Social Security has become a make-or-break income source for a swelling share of Americans even as the program barrels toward insolvency, an anniversary survey by AARP warns.
What Happened: Two-thirds of today's retirees now say they “rely substantially” on their monthly benefit, up from about half in 2005, and 78% of adults fear the checks won't cover basic living costs.
66% of retirees and 63% of workers not yet retired expect Social Security to be their largest income source, the survey shows. Only 36% believe the system will keep paying full benefits when they need them, down seven points since 2020.
96% call the program important, yet 78% doubt its adequacy as pessimism peaks among Americans in their 30s. The survey shows that knowledge gaps exist as well. Just 24% correctly picked age 70 as the point to maximize monthly checks, and one-third wrongly assume the program would vanish if its trust funds are empty.
“We’re concerned that faith in the system … is waning,” AARP CEO Myechia Minter-Jordan said in a call with CBS. “We’re concerned about their confidence that they will be able to receive benefits that they have paid into over time.”
Why It Matters: Trustees project the combined retirement and disability funds will deplete in 2034, triggering a 20% across-the-board cut. Beneficiaries have already ballooned to roughly 68 million, a record that is forecast to hit 82 million by 2035.
Record claiming this year coincides with plans to trim 7,000 Social Security staff, the deepest reduction in decades, raising service-delay fears. Wealth inequality compounds the pressure, with about half of private-sector workers lacking a retirement plan, Pew research finds.
Lawmakers face choices ranging from taxing higher wages to lifting the retirement age. A report from earlier in the year noted that the 2025 payroll-tax cap of $176,100 means billionaires like Elon Musk finish paying the levy "15 minutes" into the year, fueling calls to scrap the cap entirely.
Meanwhile, more analysis predicts a potentially record cost-of-living adjustment in 2026, but warns even a big raise may lag inflation if Congress fails to shore up the fund.
Read Next:
Image Via Shutterstock
