Overview

• The 2025 Social Security Trustees Report moved the exhaustion date from 2036 to 2033 following updated demographic and economic forecasts.
• Depletion would automatically reduce payments by roughly 23% for about 60 million retirees, survivors and disabled beneficiaries.
• Baby Boomer retirements, slower wage growth and recent benefit expansions for public-sector workers have accelerated the fund’s drawdown since 2021.
• Medicare’s Hospital Insurance fund is also expected to deplete by 2033 as rising costs outpace tax income.
• Lawmakers are debating fixes such as raising or eliminating the payroll tax cap, boosting rates, adjusting benefit formulas or increasing the retirement age.