Social Security: Here's how far the average check goes in 50 largest US cities, according to study

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FILE-In this photo illustration, Social Security checks are piled at the U.S. Treasury printing facility in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo Illustration by William Thomas Cain/Getty Images)

Social Security payments benefit millions of Americans to assist with covering their daily expenses.

The average monthly Social Security benefit is $1,871 for a single person and $2,782 for a married couple, according to the Social Security Administration.

And while this supplementary income can be helpful in many ways for Social Security recipients, making it stretch can be difficult in some of the nation’s largest cities.

To determine how far Social Security benefits will go in U.S. cities, GoBankingRates created a study analyzing the 50 most populous cities collecting data from the U.S. Census American Community Survey.

For each city, several other factors were sourced from the survey, including the total population, cost-of-living, and a livability index. Statistics were also collected from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Survey and Federal Reserve Economic Data. The cities were sorted by their total population and all data collected is up-to-date as of Sept. 20, 2024.

New York City topped GoBankngRates list for 2024. The annual cost of living in the city is $83,596, and the annual cost of living after the average Social Security benefit for one person is $61,142. The annual cost of living after the average Social Security benefit for a married couple is $50,217.

Here is GoBankingRates ranking of cities with the top 20 listed below.