The Social Security Administration has stated that different states will get different amounts of money in 2025. The SSA changes Social Security benefits every year so that people who get them can get an extra boost from the cost of living adjustment (COLA).
The COLA is meant to help seniors keep their buying power even when prices of goods and services go up. It does this by taking inflation into account for many things.
This week, the Senior Citizens League said that the cost of living increase for next year might be around 2.6%. As of 2021, this would be the lowest gain for the beneficiaries. On the other hand, not every state gets the same kinds of increased benefits every month.
Social Security announces some beneficiaries will receive larger checks in some states
Because of how Social Security is calculated, monthly benefit raises will not happen at the same rate in every state. This means that some retirees in some states may get more benefits than others.
Your real benefit amount may change based on how much you’ve earned over the years and when you first apply for Social Security. But it looks like not all recipients will get the same average payments. In some places, the payments will be bigger.
Some seniors in some states may get more money from Social Security than others because of how the program is set up. Your exact benefit amount may change based on when you start getting Social Security and how much you’ve earned over your lifetime.
A new study by the Motley Fool says that these factors would make it so that some states would get bigger Social Security benefits than others. This is because, based on the COLA, the median wage in some states is much higher than in others.
This means that people in those states get bigger Social Security benefits. Based on what the Motley Fool found, these are the places where the average monthly Social Security check is the highest:
- New Jersey: $2,100
- Connecticut: $2,084
- Delaware: $2,064
- New Hampshire: $2,039
- Maryland: $2,008
- Michigan: $2,005
- Washington: $1,992
- Minnesota: $1,982
- Indiana: $1,952
- Massachusetts: $1,946
Why will some beneficiaries receive larger Social Security checks in these states?
As a professor of financial literacy at the University of Tennessee at Martin named Alex Beene, he says that states with higher median incomes get bigger Social Security raises.
This is shown in the benefits people get, and since their monthly payments are bigger, they are most likely to get the biggest COLA increases. Also, the average retiree in New Jersey will get an extra $54.60 in Social Security benefits if the current COLA forecasts come true.
The price would go up by $50.60 in Massachusetts. More than half of the states listed above had higher wages. New Jersey, New Hampshire, Maryland, Washington, and Massachusetts were among the top ten.
But there’s more to the story than just income that shows why these places will benefit the most from the bigger cost-of-living adjustments. Some seniors choose to stay in their retirement communities even though they have more money to spend.
There are some states with some of the highest average Social Security benefits but the lowest incomes. For example, the Motley Fool says that seniors are leaving Washington, D.C. and California for other states.
Finally, it’s important to know that seniors who don’t live in one of the top 10 states can still expect a big boost in their benefits. This is because the cost-of-living adjustment is added to everyone’s monthly check, no matter where they live.
Social Security payment amounts for beneficiaries considering a 2.6% COLA in 2025
Since the 2.6% COLA increase would start in January 2025, these are all the payment amounts that people would be able to get from the government programs they are eligible for:
| Retirement benefits (plus 2.6%) | Survivor benefits (plus 2.6%) | SSDI benefits (plus 2.6%) | SSI benefits (plus 2.6%) |
| On average: $1,949
Age 62: $2,780 Age 67: $3,921 Age 70: $5,000 |
On average: $1,544
Individual: $1,819 2 Children: $3,748 |
On average: $1,577
Blind recipients: $2,657 Maximum payment: $3,921 |
On average: $716
Individuals: $968 Couples: $1,452 Essential person: $484 |
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