Social Security Trust Fund May Be Depleted in 2032, Trustees Report Finds

The trust fund that Social Security uses to pay retirement benefits to tens of millions of Americans could run out by 2032 unless Congress acts, according to an annual trustees report released Thursday.

The Old Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund “reserves are projected to become depleted in the fourth quarter of 2032, with 78 percent of benefits payable at that time,” the Social Security Administration (SSA) said in a statement Tuesday, while it added that disability insurance “reserves are projected to remain positive throughout the 75-year projection period.”

The projected date is one year earlier than what had been forecast by the OASI trust fund last year. In that report, the trustees projected that the OASI fund, which pays benefits to retirees and survivors of deceased workers, would run dry in 2033, saying at the time that only 77 percent of benefits would be payable should it go insolvent.

When combined, the OASI and disability insurance funds were forecast by the trustees to be exhausted by 2034, which the SSA said is the same as last year’s projections. Upon their depletion, there will only be 83 percent of benefits payable, the SSA said.

Social Security’s programs use revenue from federal payroll taxes to pay benefits to Americans. When the payments exceed tax income, Social Security uses trust funds to cover the difference.

In a statement, SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano and the agency called on Congress to act on passing a measure to deal with the possible depletion of both the OASI and disability insurance trust funds.

“Under the Trump Administration, we are committed to protecting and strengthening Social Security,” Bisignano said. “This year, we have made historic improvements in providing best-in-class service for the more than 330 million Americans we serve. We are eliminating waste, fraud, abuse and ensuring program integrity.”

But he added that lawmakers and the SSA must “work together to ensure the trust funds continue to provide financial stability now and for future generations.”

According to the 2026 trustees report, the trust fund’s long-term outlook had lowered in 2026 due to lower fertility rates and lower-than-usual temporary and illegal immigration estimates.

“The ultimate total fertility rate is 1.75 children per woman for this report. This rate is lower than the rate of 1.90 children per woman used in last year’s report,” it said, adding that the “assumed levels of temporary or unlawfully present immigrants entering the country in 2022-25 were lowered.”

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump in July 2025, also had an impact, the report found. It permanently lowered “income tax rates and adjusted tax brackets originally enacted under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and both increases and makes permanent the larger standard deduction of the 2017 Act.”

While the bill “also adds a temporary additional standard deduction for taxpayers over age 65,” the report added it means that “less income tax will be paid on Social Security benefits” that would ultimately be sent to the OASI and disability insurance trust funds.

Earlier this month, a fiscal policy think tank warned that Social Security benefits could be significant cut, on average, in a number of states as the trust funds go insolvent.

The “average monthly benefit cuts would surpass $500 in 29 states, with the largest cuts impacting retirees in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Utah, and Washington,” said the Committee for a Responsible Budget in an analysis.

“No state would be spared from the potentially devastating effects of insolvency,” the Washington-based organization stated. “With less than seven years until Social Security is projected to be insolvent, policymakers need to enact changes to the program as quickly as possible to protect against these scenarios.”

Nearly 71 million people receive Social Security benefits, while another 7.5 million receive Supplemental Security Income payments, according to the SSA.