Social Security Retirement Needs in All 50 States Based on Checks

Social Security benefits and retirement savings are closely connected: for a single retiree, a larger monthly check means less money must come from savings. Under the 4% withdrawal rule, each extra $100 a month in benefits reduces the estimated nest egg by about $30,000, whatever state the retiree lives in.

At a Glance

• A single retiree needs about $898,000 in savings to cover the typical national retirement budget gap.
• Estimated needs range from about $644,000 in North Dakota to about $1.02 million in New Jersey.
• Claiming age and earnings history both affect the size of a Social Security check.
• The maximum benefit at age 70 can cover the average comfortable retirement budget, but very few retired workers receive a check near that level.

How Social Security check size changes retirement savings

A useful starting point is the national average for a one person household. A comfortable retirement budget is about $59,600 a year. In 2024, the average retired worker received roughly $23,700 a year in Social Security benefits. That leaves about $36,000 to be paid through savings or other income.

With the 4% withdrawal rule, a retiree can estimate the savings required by multiplying the annual shortfall by 25. A $36,000 gap points to about $898,000 in needed savings, based on the analysis’s rounded figures. This is a planning estimate, not a promise that a portfolio will deliver the same income every year.

Location changes the budget, but the same calculation applies. North Dakota is the least expensive state in the analysis, with an estimated savings need of about $644,000. New Jersey is the most expensive, at about $1.02 million. The difference is roughly $375,000. Yet a change in monthly benefits can move the savings target substantially within any state.

For a first pass at your own number, write down an annual retirement budget, subtract the annual Social Security benefit you expect to receive, then multiply the remaining gap by 25. If your expenses are likely to differ from the national average, use your own budget rather than treating the state estimate as a personal forecast.

Why benefits differ between single retirees

Social Security calculates retirement benefits using a worker’s highest 35 years of earnings, then adjusts the amount according to the age at which benefits begin. Years without earnings can lower the result: any year needed to reach 35 that has no earnings is counted as a zero.

Claiming at 62 reduces the benefit by about 30% compared with the full retirement age amount. Waiting until 70 raises it about 24% above that amount. For a worker with the same earnings record, the age 70 check is about three quarters larger than the age 62 check.

The difference is especially visible for people who qualify for the maximum benefit. As of 2026, a maximum benefit is $2,969 a month at 62, $4,152 at full retirement age, which is just under 67, and $5,181 at 70. A person with that earnings history would need about $600,000 in savings if claiming at 62. At 70, the benefit can cover the typical $59,600 yearly budget, leaving essentially no savings requirement for that average budget.

That example has a narrow reach. At the end of 2025, only about 25,000 of roughly 54 million retired workers, fewer than 1 in 2,000, received benefits near the maximum. About half of retired worker beneficiaries received under $2,000 a month, and about 1 in 10 received under $1,000. Only 1 in 6 got at least $3,000 a month, while fewer than 3% received more than $4,000.

What changes for couples and individual plans?

These estimates describe a single retiree. Couples cannot simply double the figures: they may share some expenses, receive two Social Security benefits, and need a different amount from savings to cover any remaining gap. A single person also has no spouse’s check to help meet household costs, so their own benefit can have an outsized effect on the calculation.

Claiming later increases the monthly payment, while claiming earlier brings benefits sooner and produces a smaller check. The figures above show the budget trade off, but they do not determine the right claiming age for an individual. Earnings history, expected spending and other income all affect the result.

How close is your own savings target?

Use the national and state figures as reference points, not as a substitute for your own math. Compare your expected annual benefit with your likely retirement expenses, then apply the 25 times estimate to the shortfall. The biggest uncertainty in this exercise is often not the state average, but how closely your eventual Social Security check matches the national figure.