Social Security Average Retirement Check Reaches $2,081 a Month After 2.8% COLA
Updated
Updated · 24/7 Wall St. · Jul 3
Social Security Average Retirement Check Reaches $2,081 a Month After 2.8% COLA
3 articles · Updated · 24/7 Wall St. · Jul 3
Summary
$2,081 was the average monthly Social Security retirement benefit in April 2026, according to Social Security Administration data reflecting the 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment that began in January.
Replacing roughly that income with dividends would require $24,000 a year in cash distributions, implying about $600,000 at a 4% yield, $480,000 at 5%, or $400,000 at 6%.
A six-stock equal-weight portfolio of Verizon, Altria, Enterprise Products, Realty Income, Coca-Cola and AbbVie would yield about 4.7%, producing roughly $24,000 annually from around $510,000 before tax.
That strategy still leaves key gaps: Social Security is inflation-indexed by law, while dividends depend on company boards, and the highest-yielding sectors in the sample carry telecom, tobacco and energy-infrastructure risks.
The savings challenge is growing wider as the U.S. personal savings rate fell to 3.9% in the first quarter of 2026 from 6.2% in early 2024.