How Big Is the Average Social Security Check in Florida?
Written by
Vance Cariaga
Edited by
Daria Uhlig
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Florida has long been the top retirement destination in the United States, and that still holds true today even though its lead is slipping. Because the Sunshine State is such an attraction for retirees, Social Security checks play a big financial role for seniors who live there.
Living on Social Security alone is challenging no matter where you live. That’s why it’s important to build adequate retirement savings to pay the bills and fund your preferred lifestyle. In certain Florida cities with a high cost of living, such as Miami, it’s all but impossible to get by solely on Social Security.
But other parts of Florida are affordable compared with the rest of the country, and on the whole, the Sunshine State ranks around the middle of the pack in terms of affording a comfortable retirement. That’s also the case in terms of average Social Security checks by state, though Florida does land in the lower half in that regard, according to an analysis of Social Security Administration data from Motley Fool.
As of December 2022, Social Security recipients in Florida had an average benefit of $1,814 a month, Motley Fool reported. At the time, the state had about 4.91 million Social Security beneficiaries who shared total benefits of $7.58 billion.
To put Florida’s average check in context, the states with the highest average benefits — Connecticut and New Jersey — both had average payments of about $2,020 a month in December 2022. Those two states also have much higher costs of living than Florida. The states with the lowest average Social Security checks were Louisiana and Mississippi, at about $1,690 each.
Social Security’s 8.7% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in 2023 pushed the averages even higher. Based on Florida’s December 2022 average of $ 1,814 a month, an 8.7% COLA would hike that figure to about $1,971 a month as of December 2023. However, it doesn’t necessarily work out that way when you take into account new recipients with lower or higher average payments and recipients who died during the year, which changes the average.
Nationwide, the average Social Security benefit was $1,767.03 a month in December 2023, according to the SSA’s Monthly Statistical Snapshot. That figure includes retirement checks as well as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits. The average retirement benefit in December 2023 was $1,856.38 a month.
The COLA for 2024 is 3.2%, which should push the Florida average to around $2,035 a month this year.
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