How many people receive Social Security Benefits?
Currently, there are over 58 million individuals receiving Social Security benefits. Social Security benefits include retirement benefits, survivor benefits, disabled workers, dependents of disabled workers as well as widower benefits.
As you can see from the data below, there are over 47 million individuals receiving “Old-Age and Survivors Insurance” benefits. The money distributed to these individuals are funds collected in the form of employment taxes from working individuals. Every pay period taxes are deducted from employees as part of the Social Security retirement benefits system created in 1939. When individuals reach retirement age, they can apply to receive retirement benefits based upon the amount of money they contributed to this trust fund. Currently, the average payment received from this trust fund is just over $1,235 per month.
If you have more questions about Social Security benefits, you can review the www.ssa.gov web site, or contact your local Social Security office. Click here to find the social security office nearest you.
| Type of beneficiary | Beneficiaries | Total monthly benefits (millions of dollars) | Average monthly benefit (dollars) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number (thousands) | Percent | |||
| Total | 58,767 | 100.0 | 70,033 | 1,191.70 |
| Old-Age and Survivors Insurance | 47,844 | 81.4 | 59,105 | 1,235.39 |
| Retirement benefits | 41,724 | 71.0 | 52,447 | 1,256.98 |
| Retired workers | 38,797 | 66.0 | 50,536 | 1,302.56 |
| Spouses of retired workers | 2,301 | 3.9 | 1,514 | 657.87 |
| Children of retired workers | 625 | 1.1 | 397 | 634.14 |
| Survivor benefits | 6,119 | 10.4 | 6,659 | 1,088.13 |
| Children of deceased workers | 1,867 | 3.2 | 1,521 | 814.81 |
| Widowed mothers and fathers | 144 | 0.2 | 133 | 922.38 |
| Nondisabled widow(er)s | 3,848 | 6.5 | 4,819 | 1,252.12 |
| Disabled widow(er)s | 258 | 0.4 | 184 | 712.93 |
| Parents of deceased workers | 1 | (L) | 1 | 1,101.34 |
| Disability Insurance | 10,923 | 18.6 | 10,927 | 1,000.36 |
| Disabled workers | 8,958 | 15.2 | 10,260 | 1,145.34 |
| Spouses of disabled workers | 151 | 0.3 | 47 | 309.10 |
| Children of disabled workers | 1,814 | 3.1 | 620 | 341.91 |
| SOURCE: Social Security Administration, Master Beneficiary Record, 100 percent data. | ||||
| NOTE: (L) = less than 0.05 percent. | ||||
