August 14th, 2025, marks the 90th anniversary of the Social Security program, and the National Hispanic Council on Aging is thrilled to celebrate what should be nationally recognized as an incredible achievement in American history. Social Security is an excellent example of what we as a nation can do to support our elders and our most vulnerable, two qualifiers which too often intersect. The United States is a nation full of hard workers, and with Social Security, we can commit to a life of hard work knowing that it directly contributes to a safety net built for all citizens when they come of age.
Social Security is an earned-income program, wherein upon retirement, a worker will receive benefits informed by their lifetime earnings. A worker’s Social Security income is a percentage of their pre-retirement income, which is determined by their total life-time earnings up until the point they decide to begin receiving their benefits. While it was never intended to be a retired older adult’s sole form of income, about one half of today’s older adults receives more than half of their income from Social Security, according to the National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare. Whether it was intended to be an older adult’s primary income or not, clearly there are countless older adults who rely on it to live with dignity, comfort, and good health. The money that funds Social Security is amassed through payroll taxes, such that workers pay a small amount of their earnings to sustain the safety net. This means that unless 100% of Americans were to become unemployed, Social Security will always exist.
After almost one hundred years with this incredible program, it’s easy to take Social Security for granted, but consider how this safety net came to be ninety years ago. In 1935, when the Social Security Act was first passed, the United States was in the middle of an economic crisis that we refer to as The Great Depression. Millions of Americans lost their savings, and older adults especially found themselves without the ability to support themselves. It’s easy to see why Social Security came to be: Americans experienced extreme hardship, and there was nothing to catch them, no government measures to ensure their financial safety—no safety net.
Now consider the year 2025, a time where many of us view private retirement funds and pensions as common, because we recognize that they are absolutely necessary to live with financial security as an older adult. Yet, there are many without these private measures, for whom Social Security benefits represent the majority of their income as an older adult. One out of four older adults rely on Social Security for 90% of their income. Without Social Security, 40% of American older adults would live in poverty.
These statistics, as well as this 90th anniversary, serve to remind us both what an impressive achievement it is to have instituted such a successful program, and of the need to ensure the safety and security of older adults. What safety and security Social Security has been able to provide is indeed profound, and we owe it to our elders and our future-selves to not simply accept Social Security as a finished project, but to recognize the immense potential in its improvement and in the qualities that it shares with fellow safety nets. Programs like Social Security, Medicaid & Medicare, and SNAP embody a spirit of kindness, fairness, and protection that we should strive for. The success and wellness of a society can be most easily measured by its treatment of its most vulnerable.
Happy 90th Anniversary to the Social Security Program from the National Hispanic Council on Aging!
References:
“Social Security Primer,” Social Security Facts. National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare (NCPSSM). 10/24/2024. https://www.ncpssm.org/documents/social-security-facts/social-security-primer/
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