The Average Social Security Check For Men Vs. Women Will Make You Pause

While many current retirees, and even those approaching retirement like Gen X, worry about what their monthly Social Security benefits check will look like — especially in the face of Social Security potentially running out – many different factors can ultimately impact your specific benefits. While general knowledge dictates that the amount of years you worked, and how much you earned during those years, will have a significant impact on your eventual Social Security benefits, the truth can be more complicated than that. In addition to running the math on how much income you need to earn to max out potential benefits, there are also considerations surrounding what age, exactly, you might choose (or be forced) to retire. However, even when factoring in all of these different figures, one thing in particular can have a larger impact on Social Security benefits than anything else: gender. 

Per a GOBankingRates analysis of Social Security Administration data, the average monthly check that early retirees can expect -– those who begin collecting Social Security benefits at age 62 -– is $1,370 for men, but only $1,095 for women. Those who wait for full retirement -– which will be 67 for those born in 1960 and later -– can expect an average monthly check of $1,853.68 for men, but $1,478.02 for women. Those who delay retirement to 70 can expect an average monthly check of $1,965.31 for men, but $1,568.68 for women. Across all age tiers, women consistently earn less in Social Security retirement benefits than men.

There are many, largely societal, implications that impact how women's Social Security benefits are ultimately calculated. For starters, according to the Pew Research Center, women earned an average of just 85% of what men earned in 2024, only very narrowly improved from 81% in 2003. This means that women, regardless of how long they are in the workforce or how promoted they might get, are still earning significantly less than men in the same positions. This gender pay gap largely contributes to why women experience lower rates of Social Security benefits than men do during retirement. Since Social Security calculations are based on a worker's average indexed monthly earnings -– over 35 years of indexed earnings -– lower overall earnings will therefore lead to a lower Social Security calculation.

Other elements affecting Social Security benefits for women during retirement have to do with the fact that there are still fewer women in the workforce than men -– per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 67.9% of men over 25 were employed in 2022 compared to 55.4% of women -– and the fact that women are more likely to have breaks in their employment. These breaks are largely due to childbirth, and the undue burden generally placed on women to take more time off for childcare related responsibilities. These gaps in employment can lead to women having fewer years worth of work history to factor into their Social Security calculations, which can further hurt their overall benefits amounts.