Do women get more Social Security money? It depends on how you look at it

Men and women, the rich and the working class, all benefit from monthly Social Security checks in retirement. The program gives the average recipient tens of thousands of dollars a year, but there is a lot of variation in how much certain groups receive.

Most people assume that women receive less Social Security than men because they often earn less over the course of their careers. There is some truth to this, but who benefits more from Social Security depends a bit on how you look at it.

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Men typically receive larger monthly checks

When it comes to monthly benefits, men have an advantage over women. In July 2024, the average male retiree received $2,120.80 per month, while the average female retiree received only $1,727.70 per month. That’s a difference of over $4,700 a year.

This is undoubtedly due to the gender pay gap. On average, men earn more than women by a significant amount, although this has improved in recent years. The Social Security Administration looks at your earnings history for your highest-earning 35 years when calculating your benefit, so lower earnings definitely hurt women here.

Some women may also receive lower benefits because they have spent fewer years in the workforce due to caring obligations. When you’ve worked less than 35 years, the government includes the years without income in calculating your Social Security benefits, which lowers your monthly checks.

Some women may get more benefits over the course of their lives

When looking at lifetime Social Security benefits, the advantages are not so clearly in favor of men. It comes down to life expectancy. The average 62-year-old man today can expect to live about 21.6 more years. That would give men about 259 months to claim Social Security benefits if they claimed right away. A typical 62-year-old woman today can expect to live another 24.5 years, so these women have 294 months to claim Social Security if they apply as soon as they become eligible.

If we use these average life expectancies and the monthly benefits listed above, the average man still comes out slightly ahead in terms of lifetime Social Security benefits. She would receive about $549,287.20 from the program, compared to just $507,943.80 for the average woman. That’s a difference of just over $41,000.

But if life expectancy deviates even slightly from those listed above, it could tip the balance in women’s favor. If the man in our example only lived to 82 and the woman to 88, the woman would end up with a lifetime benefit over $30,000 higher than her male counterpart.

This assumes both claim average monthly benefits at 62. If one or both delay benefits, this adds another variable. Waiting to apply means you’ll get fewer years of checks, but each check is bigger. For those with long life expectancies, delaying Social Security could give their lifetime benefit a significant boost.

Social Security likely replaces more pre-retirement income for women

Social Security was designed to replace about 40 percent of pre-retirement income for the average worker. But the benefit formula is structured so that those with lower incomes receive higher levels of income replacement before retirement, while those with higher incomes receive less.

As already mentioned, men typically earn more over the course of their careers than women. So they may find that Social Security doesn’t replace as much of their pre-retirement income as it does for women. This could force men to save more on their own if they hope to maintain the same level of retirement income they are used to.

It’s worth noting that the information above contains generalizations based on average earnings and life expectancy for men and women. There is obviously a lot of variation at the personal level. Some women earn more than many men, while some men can significantly outlive the average woman. So while it’s helpful to understand how these factors may affect your benefits, it’s also important to recognize that your personal experience may be different.