04-06-2025
Why more Americans are filing for Social Security this year
Social Security is certainly beloved, but it's usually a little bit boring.
Not this year.
Why it matters: There's been a surge in older Americans applying for benefits in 2025, and a large increase in the amount of money paid out.
Zoom in: That's happening for a host of reasons, including a new law that marks the biggest expansion to the program this century, a White House that made changes to the program and, of course, a growing elderly population.
By the numbers: Social Security retirement claims are on track to rise 15% this year from 2024, per an analysis by the Urban Institute, a research group.
From 2012 to 2024, claims increased by 3% per year, on average.
At the same time, benefits payments surged in March and April, according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis released last week.
Between the lines: The benefits increase was so large that it boosted income data also released last week.
"The economy has apparently been benefitting from a stealth form of income support for the past several months," writes Jonathan Levin in a column for Bloomberg Opinion. "Which may be giving some of us false confidence about the future."
The big picture: Many new applicants are filing for benefits earlier than planned out of anxiety over moves by the Trump administration on Social Security this year, according to the Urban Institute.
High-earning individuals appear to be driving the rise in applications, says Jack Smalligan, a senior policy fellow at the Urban Institute.
Another piece of the increase is simply attributable to the growing population of retiring Baby Boomers.
2024 marked the start of the Peak 65 Zone, the largest surge of Americans turning 65 in U.S. history, the Social Security Administration points out.
The agency emphasizes recent improvements in how it notifies spouses of Social Security recipients that they may be eligible for larger benefits.
Zoom out: For years, policymakers didn't mess with Social Security.
This year has been different.
The Social Security Administration made a flurry of changes: staff and office cuts, updates to phone policies and other customer service changes.
The messaging around the moves was confusing. New policies were announced, rolled back or changed. At the same time, the agency was experiencing more systems crashes.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk called Social Security a Ponzi scheme, while Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick made public statements about benefits fraud that also upset people.
That sent a surge of people to agency field offices, while others started calling in as well.
"People were very concerned that their benefits were going to stop," says Jessica Lapointe, who works in a field office in Wisconsin, and is a union official. "The public really didn't understand what was going on."
For the record: "I am fully committed to upholding President Trump's promise to protect and strengthen Social Security," Frank Bisignano, the recently appointed agency commissioner, tells Axios in a statement.
"Beneficiaries can be confident that their benefits are secure. We will deliver the highest standard of service, ensuring every payment is accurate, timely, and delivered to the right person."
The agency has prioritized processing retirement claims this month and says it has reduced the number pending by nearly 13% over the past two weeks.
How the new law expands benefits
Some of the increase in applications — and most of the surge in benefits payouts — is due to the Social Security Fairness Act, which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support last year.
How it works: The law, the biggest expansion in the program over the past quarter-century, increases benefit payments to about 3 million people, mostly workers for state and local governments, like teachers, firefighters and police officers, who were previously shut out from receiving Social Security checks, or were getting smaller checks.
Some of the payments increases are temporary. Many have been paid lump-sum checks this year for benefits dating back to 2024, elevating payouts over the last few months. That's expected to decline.
Between the lines: The new law is estimated to cost about $200 billion over the next 10 years. Critics have warned that it will speed up the depletion of the Social Security trust fund.
