{"id":810678,"date":"2026-08-12T01:56:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T01:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/810678\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T01:56:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T01:56:15","slug":"10-states-where-social-security-benefits-go-furthest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/810678\/","title":{"rendered":"10 states where Social Security benefits go furthest"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a> <\/p>\n

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’s 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’s checks arrive? SSI payments?<\/a> <\/p>\n

The reverse is true for cost of living. It’s 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

MORE BY LEADA GORE <\/p>\n

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Indiana – $2,034 average monthly benefit, $2,332 monthly basic expenses, 87.2% covered by benefits <\/p>\n

West Virginia – $1,898 average monthly benefit, $2,202 monthly basic expenses, 86.2% covered by benefits <\/p>\n

Alabama – $1,920 average monthly benefit, $2,279 monthly basic expenses, 84.2% covered by benefits <\/p>\n

Michigan – $2,066 average monthly benefit, $2,495 monthly basic expenses, 82.8% covered by benefits <\/p>\n

South Carolina – $1,996 average monthly benefit, $2,422 monthly basic expenses, 82.4% covered by benefits <\/p>\n

Delaware – $2,171 average monthly benefit, $2,656 monthly basic expenses, 81.7% covered by benefits <\/p>\n

Tennessee – $1,958 average monthly benefit, $2,400 monthly basic expenses, 81.6% covered by benefits <\/p>\n

Missouri – $1,937 average monthly benefits, $2,383 monthly basic expenses, 81.3% covered by benefits <\/p>\n

North Carolina – $1,980 average monthly benefit, $2,460 monthly basic expenses, 80.5% covered by benefits <\/p>\n

Kansas – $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

Read the original article on NJ.com<\/a>. Add NJ.com<\/a> as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/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":810679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[28,147,530,733,737],"class_list":["post-810678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-social-security","tag-social-security-benefits"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=810678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/810679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=810678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=810678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=810678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}