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Survivors benefits
Retired Social Security
In the United States, Social Security is the commonly used term for the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program and is administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA).[1] The Social Security Act was passed in 1935,[2] and the existing version of the Act, as amended,[3] encompasses several social welfare and social insurance programs.
The average monthly Social Security benefit for September 2023 was $1,706.[4] The total cost of the Social Security program for 2022 was $1.244 trillion or about 5.2 percent of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP).[5]
Social Security is funded primarily through payroll taxes called the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) or Self Employed Contributions Act (SECA). Wage and salary earnings from covered employment, up to an amount determined by law (see tax rate table), are subject to the Social Security payroll tax. Wage and salary earnings above this amount are not taxed. In 2024, the maximum amount of taxable earnings is $168,600.[6]
Social Security is nearly universal, with 94 percent of individuals in paid employment in the United States working in covered employment.[7] However, about 6.6 million state and local government workers in the United States, or 28 percent of all state and local workers, are not covered by Social Security but rather pension plans operated at the state or local level.
Social Security payroll taxes are collected by the federal Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and are formally entrusted to the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund and the federal Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Fund, the two Social Security Trust Funds.[8][9] Social Security revenues exceeded expenditures between 1983 and 2009[10] which increased trust fund balances. The retirement of the large baby-boom generation however, is lowering balances. Without legislative changes, trust fund reserves are projected to be depleted in 2033 for the OASI fund.[11] Should depletion occur, incoming payroll tax and other revenue would be sufficient to pay 77 percent of OASI benefits starting in 2035.
With few exceptions, all legal residents working in the United States have an individual Social Security Number.
- ^ Social Security Administration, Social Insurance Programs, retrieved 1 November 2016.
- ^ Social Security Act of 1935 "Legislative History 1935 Social Security Act". Retrieved November 8, 2006.
- ^ [42 USC 7] "US Code – Title 42 – The Public Health and Welfare". Archived from the original on October 12, 2006. Retrieved November 8, 2006.
- ^ "Social Security Monthly Statistical Snapshot, September 2023" (PDF). Social Security Administration Research, Statistics, and Policy Analysis.
- ^ "The 2023 Annual Report of the Board of trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds" (PDF). ssa.gov. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 6, 2023.
- ^ United States Social Security Administration. "Contribution and Benefit Base".
- ^ "Social Security: Who Is Covered Under the Program?". Congressional Research Service.
- ^ "42 USC 401, Trust Funds". Retrieved November 8, 2006.four
- ^ Morton, William R.; Liou, Wayne (September 12, 2017). Social Security: The Trust Funds (PDF). Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 5, 2013. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
- ^ The 2012 Long-Term Projections for Social Security, Congressional Budget Office, October 2012
- ^ "Social Security Board of Trustees: Projection for Combined Trust Funds One Year Sooner than Last Year". Social Security Administration. March 31, 2023.