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These are the 10 states with the highest and lowest median Social Security payments
As retired workers begin to calculate the increase in the value of their Social Security benefits for 2025, we look at the states with the highest and lowest median payments.
Starting in January, retired workers and other recipients of Social Security will see their benefit check increase by 2.5 percent, thanks to the annual Cost-of-living Adjustment (COLA). Based on the median payments, retired workers in four states will see their checks jump by $50 or more in 2025:
- New Jersey: $50.26
- Connecticut: $49.12
- Delaware: $48.85
- Michigan: $48.70.
Nationally, benefits will rise by an average of $42, and the average check will remain around $1,900.
Which state sent the highest Social Security checks to retired workers in 2024?
The list of states with the highest benefits was determined by multiplying the 2023 median payments by the 2024 COLA, which was 3.2 percent. The state-level data for 2024 will be available early next year, and at that point, this list can be confirmed; currently, it is an estimation based on past data.
- New Jersey: $2,084.65
- Connecticut: $2,084.28
- Delaware: $2,061.53
- New Hampshire: $2,056.75
- Maryland: $2,021.90
- Washington: $1,994.16
- Minnesota: $1,984.93
- Michigan: $1,979.63
- Massachusetts: $1,969.85
- Utah: $1,960.13
Only four of these states also appear on the list of states with the lowest poverty rates for seniors: Connecticut (9.2 percent), Delaware (8.2 percent), New Hampshire (7.7 percent), and Utah (8 percent).
Which state sent the highest Social Security checks to retired workers in 2024?
At the other end of the spectrum, the same calculations place the following states at the bottom of the list:
- Mississippi: $1,740.07
- Louisiana: $1,741.83
- Arkansas: $1,771.83
- New Mexico: $1,775.93
- Kentucky: $1,784.30
- Maine: $1,787.55
- Montana: $1,792.98
- Alaska: $1,811.64
- South Dakota: $1,821.26
- West Virginia: $1,825.34
Of these states, five rank within the top ten when it comes to the highest poverty rates for seniors:
- Mississippi: 15.5 percent
- Louisiana: 13.8 percent
- New Mexico: 13.3 percent
- Kentucky: 12.6 percent
- Arkansas: 12 percent
The difference between the highest and lowest benefit checks
However, there are differences in the size of the checks sent to retired workers between states. The median Social Security benefit amount for a retired worker in New Jersey in 2023 was $2015.90, the highest in the country. That figure was around $400 higher than the median check sent in Mississippi, which sits at the bottom of the list. According to My Life Elsewhere, a site that allows users to compare the cost of living in two areas, residents of New Hampshire pay around 21 percent more for goods and services than Mississippi residents. Nevertheless, the difference between the Social Security payments offered to retired workers in each state is 25 percent, meaning that differences in the cost of living do not account for all of the difference. In New Jersey, only 8.8 percent of retired workers receive a check worth less than $900; in Mississippi, that figure is 12.2 percent.
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