{"id":735061,"date":"2026-08-12T00:16:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T00:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/735061\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T00:16:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T00:16:12","slug":"10-states-where-social-security-benefits-go-furthest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/735061\/","title":{"rendered":"10 states where Social Security benefits go furthest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Social Security benefits are a financial lifeline for many retirees.<\/p>\n

According to senior advocacy group AARP,<\/a> 42% of American women and 37% of men rely on Social Security to provide at least half their income.<\/p>\n

Those benefits go further in some states than others.<\/p>\n

Social Security benefits vary from state to state because payments are based on an individual\u2019s lifetime work and earnings history, not a geographic location. Retirees in states with higher average wages typically receive higher benefits, while those living in states with lower wages generally receive smaller benefits.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Social Security payment schedule: When will September\u2019s checks arrive? SSI payments?<\/a><\/p>\n

The reverse is true for cost of living. It\u2019s more expensive to live in some states than others and retirees in high-cost places spend more on daily living than others.<\/p>\n

AARP recently analyzed<\/a> those factors to determine the 10 states where Social Security benefits go the furthest. The rankings are based on the average benefit, as well as the Elder Index, a tool developed by the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston that measures how much income older Americans who are aging in place need to meet their basic needs.<\/p>\n

The average Social Security payment is currently $2,082, though individual benefits vary widely based on lifetime earnings, work history, and the age at which you start collecting.<\/p>\n

10 states where Social Security goes the furthest<\/p>\n

Based on those factors, here are the 10 states where Social Security goes the furthest:<\/p>\n

Indiana – $2,034 average monthly benefit, $2,332 monthly basic expenses, 87.2% covered by benefitsWest Virginia – $1,898 average monthly benefit, $2,202 monthly basic expenses, 86.2% covered by benefitsAlabama – $1,920 average monthly benefit, $2,279 monthly basic expenses, 84.2% covered by benefitsMichigan – $2,066 average monthly benefit, $2,495 monthly basic expenses, 82.8% covered by benefitsSouth Carolina – $1,996 average monthly benefit, $2,422 monthly basic expenses, 82.4% covered by benefitsDelaware – $2,171 average monthly benefit, $2,656 monthly basic expenses, 81.7% covered by benefitsTennessee – $1,958 average monthly benefit, $2,400 monthly basic expenses, 81.6% covered by benefitsMissouri – $1,937 average monthly benefits, $2,383 monthly basic expenses, 81.3% covered by benefitsNorth Carolina – $1,980 average monthly benefit, $2,460 monthly basic expenses, 80.5% covered by benefitsKansas – $2,055 average monthly benefit, $2,555 monthly basic expenses, 80.4% covered by benefits<\/p>\n

The states where benefits cover the least amount of basic monthly expenses were Hawaii (47%), New York (49%) and California (49%).<\/p>\n

You can go here to see how every state stacks up.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Social Security benefits are a financial lifeline for many retirees. According to senior advocacy group AARP, 42% of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":735062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[5360,84,5729,4625,9717,51431,51432,4176,2222,4174,4175,51433,51434,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-735061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-bills","tag-business","tag-cash","tag-currency","tag-dollar","tag-dollars","tag-fifty-dollar","tag-finance","tag-money","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-twenty-dollar","tag-u-s-currency","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=735061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/735062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=735061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=735061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=735061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}