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By Aliss Higham
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Concerns about the stability of Social Security have intensified across the United States as new surveys showed record-high anxiety about the program's future.
A LendingTree DepositAccounts survey has revealed that 59 percent of nonretired Americans feared Social Security would not be available when they stop working, with heightened concern among Generation X—those aged between 45 to 60.
Why It Matters
Social Security forms the backbone of retirement security for tens of millions of Americans, with the Social Security Administration (SSA) distributing monthly checks to some 70 million people.
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As workforce reductions, office closures, and high-profile government cutbacks have roiled the SSA, public confidence has faltered. Economic anxiety now spans generations, driving both political consequences and changes in personal financial behavior as Americans increasingly worry about benefit security and the viability of retiring without Social Security's support.
What To Know
The LendingTree DepositAccounts survey, which polled more than 2,000 U.S. consumers, found 62 percent of nonretired Americans believe they will never be able to retire without Social Security.
Concerns are particularly high among Gen X, with 70 percent fearing Social Security funds may run out before their retirement. That generation is among the least likely to have a plan for financing later life outside of relying on Social Security checks, at 48 percent.
Social Security actuaries have long warned that the program is facing a projected shortfall. The trust fund for retirement benefits could be depleted by 2033, after which the system would be able to pay only 77 percent of scheduled benefits, according to a 2024 report by the Social Security Board of Trustees.
Most respondents say proposals to raise the retirement age or cut benefits could undermine their support for politicians. Sixty-eight percent say they would be less likely to vote for a lawmaker who backs Social Security cuts.
Americans are more in favor of spending more of their own paychecks to keep Social Security on its feet, with just over half—52 percent—supporting tax increases to bolster the funds for future generations.
The LendingTree findings echo a separate Gallup poll from April this year that found 52 percent of adults expressed "a great deal" of concern about Social Security, up 9 percentage points from last year, representing the sharpest year-on-year rise in 15 years.
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Events within the SSA have compounded these concerns. Job cuts, office closures, and a 15-percent surge in new Social Security claims in March 2025 suggest that uncertainty is prompting Americans to claim benefits earlier.
The federal push for efficiency, led by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), resulted in job cuts, department closures, and the consolidation of regional offices, sparking widespread reports of benefit delays and service disruptions. The agency said it has identified over $1 billion in savings since these changes.
Critics, however, have said these measures negatively affected older Americans and people without reliable internet access, deepening retirement insecurity and fueling public alarm.
What People Are Saying
Matt Schulz, chief consumer finance analyst at LendingTree: "Americans are losing faith in one of the cornerstones of retirement planning. That fear is real and growing, and it's leading to belt-tightening, anxiety and even political consequences."
What Happens Next
The extent of further SSA cuts remains uncertain. As for the solvency of its trust funds, lawmakers are divided on how to fix the looming issue.
Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Representative Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, both Democrats, recently reintroduced the Social Security and Medicare Fair Share Act, which would impose payroll taxes on earnings above $400,000—an income segment currently exempt due to the existing tax cap of $168,600.
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