The reserves of the OASDI program (which are held in special issue US Treasuries) declined from $2,721 billion at the beginning of 2025 to $2,561 billion at the end of 2025.
OASDI= Old Age Survivor Disability Insurance
The combined OASDI fund is projected to become depleted in the third quarter of 2034, the same quarter as in last year’s report. Upon reserve depletion in 2034, projected income is sufficient to pay 83 percent of scheduled benefits. This percentage declines gradually to 65 percent by 2100.
In 2025 the Trust received $68.9 billion in interest on the Treasury bonds it holds and $57.8 billion from the taxation of SS benefits.
The level of the combined trust fund reserves is projected to decline in 2026, as it has since 2021, and to continue to decline throughout the remainder of the short-range period.
After reserves for the OASDI program are depleted, continuing income is sufficient to pay 83 percent of OASDI scheduled benefits for the rest of 2034
Before 2010, there were a few earlier years (starting in 1937) when benefits paid out exceeded income, requiring the trust fund to spend assets to make up the difference, but the sustained, program-wide pattern of redeeming bonds began in 2010.
2021 was the first year since 1982 that Social Security had to redeem trust fund assets on a net basis to help pay scheduled benefits. About $56 billion of trust fund securities were redeemed that year.
Since then, the trust funds have continued redeeming securities each year (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and beyond) as annual expenses exceed total income.
Keep in mind, the combined retirement and disability trust only becomes depleted (estimate 2034) AFTER all the Treasury Bonds held by trust have been redeemed and paid out in benefits.
Of course at that point there will no longer be interest income to the trust.
The rhetoric that Congress stole the SS trust money and did not return it is false.
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