Retirees Rely on More Than Social Security for Income

Social Security income for retirees makes up a smaller slice of the household budget than most people assume, and it grows more important only as retirees age. According to a 2025 Congressional Research Service report, the program accounted for just 30% of total income among Americans 65 and older, with wages, pensions, and investment earnings filling most of the rest.

Where the Other 70% Comes From

The report, which combined individual tax records with survey responses, found that wages contributed 27% of income for this age group, pensions and retirement funds added 24%, and income from assets made up 12%. That last category covers interest, dividends, rental income, and business ownership. Put together, those sources dwarf what Social Security alone provides for most retirees, even though the program remains the single largest source for lower income households, single adults, and Black and Latin American retirees specifically.

Only 19% Rely on Social Security for Nearly Everything

About 19% of Americans 65 and older get 90% or more of their income from Social Security checks alone, the analysis found. That's a minority, though a meaningful one. The dependence on the program does shift with age: it accounted for 19% of income among people 65 to 69, but climbed to 40% among those 80 and older, as wages disappear and savings get drawn down. Even at that older bracket, though, Social Security still isn't the dominant income source on its own.

The data behind these figures comes from 2019, but researchers see little reason to think the underlying pattern has shifted much since. Studies have repeatedly shown that most older adults fall short of getting 90% of their income from Social Security, and that survey respondents tend to undercount what they actually receive from pensions and retirement accounts.

A Widening Gap Between Expectation and Reality

Roughly 70% of adults surveyed by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies last summer said they expect to collect Social Security benefits, and 32% said they expect those payments to be their primary source of income in retirement. That expectation runs ahead of what the data shows actually happens for most retirees, who lean on a mix of income streams rather than one dominant check.

The stakes around that mismatch are rising. Social Security's trustees have projected that the program's main retirement trust fund, known as OASI, will run dry in 2033, at which point payroll taxes would cover only about 77% of scheduled benefits. After a tax and spending law was signed in July 2025, the Social Security Administration's chief actuary moved that depletion estimate up a year, to 2032. It's little surprise, then, that Transamerica's research found Americans now rank potential Social Security cuts as their second biggest retirement worry, trailing only the fear of needing long term care for declining health.