Key Takeaways
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The size of your Social Security check changes the nest egg you need more than any differences between states.
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Under the 4% rule, each additional $100 a month in benefits cuts the savings a single retiree needs by about $30,000, regardless of state.
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A maximum earner who delays to 70 can cover the average comfortable budget on Social Security alone, with essentially nothing saved—but very few qualify for the maximum benefit.
How Social Security Check Size Changes the Nest Egg You'll Need
For a single retiree, your monthly Social Security benefit shapes the savings you need more than your address does—there's no second check to fall back on.
But regional costs of living matter, too. An Investopedia analysis of federal cost and benefit data found that the savings a typical single American age 65 or older needs for a comfortable retirement is about $898,000. The least expensive state, North Dakota, runs about $644,000, while the priciest, New Jersey, costs about $1.02 million—a spread of about $375,000.
Retiring as a Couple?
The math for couples isn't as simple as doubling the single-retiree numbers. Shared expenses, combined Social Security benefits, and the nest egg needed to fill any gap can all change the picture. You can find our state-by-state analysis for couples here .
How the Nest Egg Math Works
The nationwide average offers a useful baseline. A comfortable retirement for a one-person household costs about $59,600 a year, while the average retired worker received roughly $23,700 a year in Social Security benefits in 2024. That leaves about $36,000 to cover from savings or other income—or a required nest egg of about $898,000 using the common 4% withdrawal rule .
The same formula applies state by state. Because the calculation is based on the gap between expenses and Social Security income, every extra $100 a month in benefits lowers the savings a single retiree needs by about $30,000. That difference matters even more for singles, who don't have a spouse's check to help cover expenses.
Why Single Retirees' Social Security Benefits Can Vary So Much
Two retirees with identical jobs can collect very different benefits. Social Security bases your payment on your highest 35 years of earnings, then adjusts it for when you claim. If you have career gaps, those pull your monthly check down, since every year short of 35 counts as a zero .
Claim at 62 and the benefit drops about 30% below the full-retirement-age amount, but wait until 70 and it climbs about 24% above it. On the same wage record, that makes the check when claiming at 70 about three-quarters larger than the check for someone who starts claiming at 62.
Top earners who paid the maximum Social Security tax for decades sit far above the average. A maximum-benefit retiree can expect $2,969 a month at age 62, $4,152 at full retirement age (just under 67), and $5,181 at age 70, as of 2026.
For a maximum earner, the nest egg needed shifts dramatically. Someone with that kind of earnings history needs about $600,000 if they claim at 62. But if they wait until 70, their Social Security checks can cover the entire typical budget—a $600,000 swing based on claim timing alone.
Of course, very few Social Security beneficiaries earn the maximum, and even fewer wait until 70 to claim. At the end of 2025, only about 25,000 of roughly 54 million retired workers—fewer than 1 in 2,000—drew benefits near that ceiling.
For most retirees, the picture looks very different. About half of retired-worker beneficiaries received less than $2,000 a month, and about 1 in 10 received less than $1,000. Larger checks were much less common: only 1 in 6 received $3,000 or more, and less than 3% received more than $4,000.
How We Calculated Retirement Costs and Savings Needs
The estimates in this analysis are based on Investopedia 's retirement affordability methodology, which combines state-level cost-of-living data, Social Security income estimates, and the 4% withdrawal rule to calculate approximate retirement savings needs.
For more detail on the assumptions behind these calculations, see our national analyses of retirement costs for couples and single retirees .
Read the original article on Investopedia
