The Nationwide Social Security Survey Found That 56% of Americans Can’t Afford to Miss Even Half a Payment, Are You One of Them?

The Nationwide Retirement Institute’s 2025 Social Security Survey delivered a number that should stop anyone planning for retirement cold. Fifty-six percent of American adults say they could not financially survive missing even half of a monthly Social Security payment. Breaking that down further, 61% of current recipients and 54% of those expecting future benefits land in the same position. The figures reveal just how thin the cushion has become for the people who already depend on these checks and for those who will.

The anxiety behind that number has a factual foundation. Eighty-three percent of survey respondents express concern about Social Security’s long-term viability, and 74% worry the program will run out of funding within their lifetime. Those fears are not unfounded: the 2026 Social Security Trustees Report, released in June, projects that combined trust fund reserves will be depleted by 2034, at which point incoming payroll taxes would cover only 83% of scheduled benefits. The retirement-only trust fund faces an even tighter timeline, with depletion projected for the fourth quarter of 2032, leaving 78% of retirement benefits payable. Sixty-one percent of survey respondents say they need to keep working because Social Security simply will not pay enough. That is a practical response to math that does not work for the benefit levels most households receive.

The Gap Between What Social Security Covers and What Retirement Actually Costs

The survey puts the coverage gap in concrete terms. Current recipients report that Social Security covers roughly 59% of their retirement expenses, meaning more than 40% of the bill falls elsewhere, whether through personal savings, part-time work, or family support. Compounding the problem, 55% of current recipients and 57% of those expecting benefits did not expect Social Security to be enough to cover even their basic needs. The program is falling short of expectations that were already modest.

Nearly two-thirds of survey respondents believe tariffs will push inflation beyond what cost-of-living adjustments can absorb, and the lived experience of current retirees supports that concern. The 2026 Social Security COLA came in at 2.8%, lifting the average retired worker’s monthly check by about $56, from roughly $2,008 to around $2,064. That adjustment then ran directly into a wall: headline PCE inflation climbed from 2.8% in February to 3.5% in March 2026. The standard Medicare Part B premium also rose to $202.90 in 2026, up from $185 in 2025, quietly eroding part of the COLA gain before it reached beneficiaries’ pockets. Cost-of-living adjustments move once a year. Prices move every month, and the categories retirees cannot easily cut, housing, healthcare, and food, have been among the most persistent.

What the Financial Strain Looks Like in Practice

Among those currently receiving Social Security, 52% have already cut back on discretionary spending because rising living costs are outpacing their benefits. Beyond that top-line figure, 31% have reduced spending on essentials such as groceries and medications, 29% have leaned more heavily on savings or retirement accounts, 18% have downsized their living situation, and 15% have sought part-time work or additional income. These are decisions already being made, not hypothetical ones.

Marital status sharpens the divide considerably. Among unmarried recipients, 59% have cut discretionary spending, compared with 46% of married or partnered recipients. The gap on essential spending is even wider: 40% of unmarried recipients have reduced spending on necessities, against 24% of those who are married. Two Social Security checks in one household stretch further than one, and the survey makes that arithmetic visible in ways that should inform how single retirees plan well before they need to rely solely on benefits.

The Expectation Gap That Makes the Problem Worse

Nearly a quarter of non-retirees expect their living expenses to decrease in their first year of retirement. Retirees tell a different story. Survey data show that actual retirees spend 78% of their retirement income on essential expenses, compared to the 71% that non-retirees expect. That seven-point gap matters considerably when applied to a fixed monthly income that already covers less than 60% of total expenses.

The knowledge deficit runs deeper than expectations about spending. The Nationwide survey found that only 21% of non-retirees correctly identified the age at which they qualify for full Social Security benefits, and just 8% correctly identified all the factors that determine maximum benefit amounts. That gap translates directly into money lost: workers who file at 62 permanently reduce their benefits by roughly 30% compared to full retirement age, while those who wait until 70 gain approximately 8% per year of delay beyond full retirement age. The perception that retirement gets cheaper is one of the most expensive assumptions a pre-retiree can make. It reduces the urgency of building the reserves that would allow someone to delay claiming, absorb a disrupted payment, or weather an inflation surge that outpaces their annual adjustment.

What People Plan to Do About It

The survey asked respondents what actions they are taking or plan to take to offset the possibility of reduced Social Security income. The responses point to a population that is aware of the problem and reaching for practical solutions, even if the math remains difficult.

1. Forty-one percent plan to cut current expenses to create more financial room.
2. Thirty-six percent plan to work part-time in retirement to supplement their income.
3. 27% plan to delay retirement entirely to keep earning income longer.
4. 22% plan to generate income from retirement savings or investments, such as annuities or dividend-paying assets.
5. 22% plan to work with a financial professional to develop a strategy to address the shortfall.

The tax dimension of retirement income is another area where the survey found widespread regret. Six in ten retirees wish they had better prepared for paying taxes in retirement, and more than half say they did not consider how tax rates would affect their retirement income when they were originally planning. For households drawing Social Security alongside withdrawals from traditional 401(k) or IRA accounts, the interaction of these income streams can push a meaningful portion of benefits into taxable territory, a reality many discover only after it is too late to change their approach.

The 56% headline measures how little slack the average American household carries right now. The survey data behind it, the coverage gaps, the spending cuts already underway, the expectation mismatches, and the inflation concerns all point to the same conclusion. The cushion retirees need does not arrive automatically. It has to be built deliberately, and the survey makes clear that for a majority of American households, that work is either incomplete or has not yet begun.

Editor’s note: This update corrects the share of respondents concerned about tariff-driven inflation outpacing COLAs from “more than two-thirds” to “nearly two-thirds” (63%), per the Nationwide press release. It also incorporates the 2026 Social Security Trustees Report’s updated trust fund depletion projections (combined funds: 2034; OASI-only: Q4 2032), the 2026 COLA figure of 2.8% and its dollar impact on the average benefit, the current Medicare Part B premium of $202.90, and the survey’s finding that only 21% of non-retirees correctly identified their full retirement age and that 6 in 10 retirees wish they had better prepared for taxes.

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