How Happy Are Americans With Social Security’s Claiming Process?

Survey data recently analyzed by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College shows that retirees in the U.S. report a high degree of satisfaction with the Social Security claiming process — despite the widely reported challenges and complexities associated with benefit optimization.

According to the CRR’s latest report, recent retirees were asked to rate their overall satisfaction with the claiming process on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest level of satisfaction. The average satisfaction score was 8.4, with about 80% of respondents reporting a score of 8 or more.

The brief was put together by the CRR’s Jean-Pierre Aubry, an associate director of state and local research. As Aubry emphasizes, this finding reflects claiming of retirement benefits only, meaning it does not capture disability benefit applications — a process that faces well-known challenges such as case backlogs.

Aubry notes the high satisfaction scores for retirement services in the CRR’s survey also align with results from SSA’s Overall Customer Service Satisfaction Survey, which has consistently shown roughly 80% of survey respondents rating SSA services as “excellent,” “very good” or “good.”

Those who contacted SSA during their claiming process reported slightly lower satisfaction than those who claimed completely online, at 8.3 vs. 8.7. Aubry suggests this “interesting” finding likely stems from the experiences of “those who would prefer to use online tools, but ultimately do not.”

As the brief explores, both online and in-person applicants report high satisfaction with the process of claiming benefits, but there is a growing emphasis on tech-based self-service. According to Aubry, this result suggests that continued improvement in, and promotion of, online services could further boost overall satisfaction.

SSA’s Shift to Online Service Hasn’t Dampened Satisfaction

As Aubry explains, retiring baby boomers are increasing the demand for Social Security Administration services at a time when budget constraints and retiring staff are limiting the agency’s capacity to deliver them.

In this environment, online services offer a way for the SSA to meet increased demand with fewer resources. However, even as the SSA has shifted more personalized information and services online to its my Social Security platform, the survey data shows that many people still do not use this tool to view their Social Security statement or apply for benefits.

As such, Aubry’s brief explores recent retirees’ satisfaction with the claiming process amidst the shift to online tools and the continued desire by some for in-person or phone services — a desire that does not break down cleanly along age or demographic lines.

For example, the CRR’s initial analysis of the survey responses found that almost 60% of recent retirees contacted the SSA at some point during the claiming process and that those who contacted SSA were more likely to be nonwhite. As Aubry points out, the figures collected for Black and Hispanic Americans indicated a statistically significant difference from white Americans.

“Given the racial differences in claiming completely online, this brief uses the survey to examine the general claiming satisfaction of recent retirees, as well as differences in satisfaction by both claiming process (i.e., completely online or not) and race,” Aubry explains.

A Closer Look at the Satisfaction Ratings

As Aubry writes, a closer look at satisfaction by claiming process and race reveals some interesting differences.

“First, both white Americans and Hispanic Americans who claimed completely online report higher satisfaction scores than those who contacted SSA when claiming,” Aubry writes. “In contrast, Black Americans who claimed completely online report lower satisfaction scores than their counterparts who contacted the SSA.”