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April 18, 2024 • 10 minutes
Updated May 2026 with the latest Social Security benefit amounts, poverty guidelines, and cost figures.
Living on Social Security alone is not only possible, but many retirees already accomplish that very feat every year. While the lifestyle associated with Social Security income isn’t exactly luxurious, it doesn’t have to equal rice and beans for the rest of your life, either.
How you make living on Social Security alone work for you will depend on a lot of factors, not the least of which is what you want out of life.
To have a reasonably comfortable life in retirement, you need about $1 million saved. That’s the traditional guideline that financial planners and retirement experts have long embraced — and one that still dominates the conversation today.
But, let’s face it, most people simply don’t have anything close to a million dollars for retirement.
For most people, anything resembling $1 million is an unattainable goal. According to Federal Reserve SCF data, the median retirement savings for Americans ages 55–64 is $185,000.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) estimates that 97% of older adults either receive Social Security or will receive it.
And, a significant percentage rely on Social Security as their sole source of income. Of the more than 68 million Americans receiving Social Security benefits:
Social Security income varies depending on work history and when you start benefits. The Social Security Administration reports that the average monthly Social Security benefit, as of January 2026, is $2,071. For context, the maximum benefit receivable in 2026 is approximately $2,969 for someone who files at 62, $4,152 for someone who claims at Full Retirement Age, and $5,181 for those who claim at age 70.
So what does that mean for annual income for a single household?
The poverty threshold for an individual is $15,960, according to the most recent reports from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and for a couple it is $21,640. The poverty threshold is a guideline set by the U.S. government to indicate the least amount of income a person or family needs to meet their basic needs.
Depending on your lifestyle, living off the average benefit of $24,852 a year might seem impossible, or entirely doable.
Here are some ideas for how to retire on Social Security alone:
If you have not yet started your Social Security benefits, the best thing you can do to live more comfortably on Social Security alone is to wait to claim your benefits.
Waiting means that your monthly payment will be bigger, giving you more money to spend.
If you have reached full retirement age, which is between 66 and 67 depending on the year you were born, you can access 100% of your benefits. For each year after that, up to age 70, your benefits increase 8%, meaning you can access 32% more at age 70 than at age 66.
If those benefits are tapped at a younger than full retirement age, they will be reduced based on the number of months you receive benefits before you reach your full retirement age. For example, if your full retirement age is 66, the reduction of your benefits at age 62 is 25%; at age 63, it is about 20%; at age 64, it is about 13.3%; and at age 65, it is about 6.7%, according to data from the Social Security Administration.
Use the Social Security Explorer in the Boldin Planner to help you decide when to start. When you are ready, here is how to apply for your benefits.
You’ve probably seen more than one episode of the popular 1980s TV show, The Golden Girls. They had a great idea. When you pool your resources in retirement, you can live a whole lot better.
When two or more people share a house and household expenses, the money goes further, whether you’re renting or sharing a mortgage payment.
There are loads of options to share housing and cut this expense: rent out a room (or rooms) in your house, combine funds to buy a home with other people, or create some other kind of communal living.
Read more about the golden age of golden girl style retirement living.
Where you live is important from the standpoint of cost of living and housing prices.
Housing: Experts say that you should not spend more than 1/3 of your income on housing. That means if you are earning the average of $24,852 a year in Social Security, you can only spend about $690 a month on housing.
The sale of a valuable home in an expensive town or state could more than finance a much more modest home in a less expensive area, plus give you a little leftover.
Cost of living: If you live in an area where goods and services are expensive, relocation to someplace where the cost of living is more comfortable is also worth consideration.
Where to go?
U.S. News and World Report says that these 10 states have lower costs of living and home prices in the United States: Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Tennessee, Georgia, Arkansas, Alabama, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Mississippi.
And, moving abroad can be another great way to really cut your expenses.
Here are 14 tips for downsizing and information about how to retire abroad.
Heating and cooling can be expensive. Utility bills can be untenable on a tight budget, especially in the heat of summer and the worst of winter.
Living in a more temperate area means less of a demand on one of the most expensive systems in any home, which is the HVAC unit.
Before retirement arrives, the less debt you have the better. Paying off debt entirely isn’t possible for everyone, but the less you owe the more you’ll pay in. This applies to credit cards as much as it does to your home and vehicle.
The Boldin Retirement Planner will let you see what happens to your finances with and without debt. It can be pretty interesting to model your own situation and experiment with different debt repayment plans.
Learn about the advantages of a debt-free retirement (and how to make it happen).
Transportation is purported to cost more than healthcare in retirement. According to the American Automobile Association, it costs, on average, $11,577 per year (or ~$965/month) to own and operate a new vehicle.
I don’t think I need to point out that $11,577 is hardly affordable on Social Security alone.
To cut transportation costs, you can:
Get ideas for cutting money spent on your car and getting around.
Living on Social Security without any other income may make it impossible to do everything you want. However, retirement is an excellent time to take stock of what you have and what you want – you may just need to prioritize your wants.
If you know what is most important to you, you can set goals and figure out a way to achieve your number one priority.
It is very useful to get a clear understanding of exactly:
You will want to consider your finances both now and well into the future. A simple retirement calculator can give you quick answers.
Better yet, use the Boldin Planner to create a detailed and reliable long-term plan for your financial future. It is a proven method for getting on track and feeling confident about your money.
The Boldin Planner can help you find your path to financial confidence. Knowing exactly what you have and exactly what you need can enable you to make it all work.
Try keeping a record – in a notebook, a spreadsheet, a software program, or on your phone – of EVERY dollar you spend. Many people are surprised to learn how many little things add up over the course of a month.
Documenting your expenses might also help you see services you can cut. Do you need all those cable channels? Can you add milk to plain coffee instead of ordering a latte?.
Here are 20 more ways to cut retirement costs.
There are quite a few programs to help low-income seniors. Research indicates that only 25 percent of eligible seniors apply for benefits that are available.
Explore some of the low-income options.
Some retirees spend more in their lifetime on out-of-pocket healthcare costs than they earn in Social Security. You can do a lot to cut those costs by staying healthy and by choosing Supplemental Medicare Coverage carefully.
Shopping around for the best supplemental Medicare plan should be done every year. Plans change. Your health needs change.
Traditional retirement advice just isn’t feasible for a lot of Americans, but living off Social Security alone really is possible. It’s all in how you approach it. The overarching themes are cutting expenses and living modestly.
For some, that might mean living in a more communal setting with expenses shared among more than just one person or one couple, and perhaps taking a part-time job if necessary. For others, maybe a suite or apartment at the home of an adult child is the answer. Or maybe the best thing to do is retire in place and whittle down on what you normally spend. Pay off debt, and pinch pennies.
“Living on Social Security alone” means relying solely on your benefit income—without withdrawals from savings or pensions—to cover all living expenses. Many retirees manage this by strategically adjusting lifestyle, housing, and costs.
Yes. The average benefit for a single retiree is about $2,071 per month ($24,852 annually), which is well above the 2026 poverty line of around $15,960 for individuals. Still, it often requires careful budgeting and lifestyle adjustments.
Strategies include delaying benefits to increase monthly income, downsizing or sharing housing, relocating to lower-cost areas, paying off debt, cutting transportation costs, and reducing overall expenses.
Waiting until full retirement age or later (up to age 70) increases monthly benefits substantially—each year of delay can yield about an 8% increase, boosting your annual income significantly.
Absolutely. Staying healthy and choosing optimal Medicare or supplemental insurance plans can significantly reduce out-of-pocket medical costs, which otherwise can erode a Social Security-only budget.
Take financial wellness into your own hands and do it yourself retirement planning: easy, comprehensive, reliable.
Mary Beth Franklin is a nationally recognized expert in Social Security. Get her 6 insider tips for getting the most from Social Security.
Choosing the right Social Security strategies can be a $100,000 (or more) question. Find out how to make the most of this benefit with 15 easy tips.
To say that Social Security and Medicare are important to the financial well being of seniors would be an understatement. Sixty-two percent of eligible beneficiaries rely on Social Security income for more than half of their income. And almost everyone who is eligible uses Medicare to help fund their healthcare after 65. Here are the […]
