Recent claims by former President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk have stirred up concerns that millions of deceased Americans—some supposedly centuries old—are receiving Social Security benefits. But publicly available data tells a different story.
The Claims vs. Reality
Musk kicked off the controversy when he posted a chart on X, suggesting that over 20 million people over the age of 100 were still marked as “alive” in the Social Security system. He joked that the program might be supporting “a lot of vampires.” Trump then echoed the claim at a Florida press briefing, stating that “millions and millions” of people over 100 are receiving Social Security checks.
But the real numbers don’t support their claims. According to the Social Security Administration (SSA), approximately 90,000 beneficiaries aged 99 or older received Social Security payments in December 2024—far from the millions Trump and Musk suggested. That number is actually lower than the estimated 101,000 centenarians living in the U.S. “There is simply no evidence that millions of deceased individuals are collecting Social Security,” an SSA spokesperson stated.
Why the Database is Outdated
The confusion likely stems from Social Security’s aging “Numident” database, which contains nearly 19 million Social Security numbers belonging to individuals aged 100 or older with no recorded date of death. However, an SSA inspector general report found that “almost none” of those individuals were receiving benefits.
One key issue is the lack of automatic updates to death records. “In many cases, individuals who pass away overseas or outside hospital systems are not reported in a timely manner,” the report noted. The SSA has acknowledged this issue but has cited cost concerns as a major barrier to updating the database, with estimates suggesting it would take between $5.5 and $9.7 million to implement necessary fixes. “Updating our systems requires funding that Congress has yet to provide,” an SSA official explained.
Are Payments Going to Dead People?
Mistaken payments to deceased individuals do happen, but fraud isn’t the main issue. A 2021 audit found that Social Security mistakenly issued an estimated $298 million in payments to about 24,000 deceased beneficiaries. Of that, roughly $84 million was recovered, leaving an estimated $214 million unrecovered. The issue wasn’t intentional fraud but administrative errors, such as outdated records and technician mistakes.
Additionally, since 2015, the SSA has implemented automatic safeguards to halt payments to anyone listed as older than 115 years. “If a record indicates an age exceeding 115, payments are flagged for immediate review,” the SSA confirmed. These measures help prevent fraudulent claims from slipping through the cracks.
How Big is the Problem?
While improper payments are a problem, they represent a tiny fraction of Social Security’s total spending. Between 2015 and 2022, the agency issued about $71.8 billion in improper payments—less than 1% of the $8.6 trillion it paid out over that period. And the majority of improper payments were overpayments to living recipients, not fraud by the deceased.
To put this in perspective, Social Security’s error rate is under 1%, much lower than programs like Medicaid, which had an improper payment rate of over 5% in 2024. “Compared to other federal programs, Social Security’s payment accuracy is among the best,” an independent government audit reported.
The Bottom Line
Despite alarming claims, Social Security is not sending checks to millions of dead people. The real issue is outdated recordkeeping and occasional administrative errors—not widespread fraud. “While no system is perfect, the notion that millions of deceased individuals are receiving benefits is simply false,” said a former SSA administrator.
While improving the system would require funding and policy changes, there is no evidence to suggest a massive scandal of deceased Americans cashing in on Social Security. Instead, experts argue that the focus should be on modernizing recordkeeping to ensure accuracy and efficiency in benefit distribution.
