About 4,465 Macon County residents drew Social Security at the end of 2025, and the 3.6% raise the Social Security Administration announced Oct. 14 will show up in their checks in January.
That is roughly three of every 10 people in the county, a larger share than in Missouri as a whole.
Social Security paid Macon County beneficiaries about $7.6 million in December 2025, according to the agency's newest county report, released in August. At that pace, benefits bring about $91 million a year into the county.
A 3.6 percent raise on that base would add roughly $274,000 a month, or about $3.3 million a year. The real figure will run somewhat higher, because the base already grew with this year's increase in January.
Most Macon County beneficiaries are retirees. In the December 2025 count, which the agency rounds to multiples of five for each county, 3,355 were retired workers and 585 were disabled workers. Another 225 were widows, widowers, or surviving parents, 215 were children of retired, disabled, or deceased workers, and 85 were spouses of retired or disabled workers.
About 3,505 of the county's beneficiaries were 65 or older.
The average retired worker in Macon County received about $1,809 a month, according to the report. The statewide average was about $2,030. On the Macon County average, a 3.6 percent raise works out to about $65 a month. The Social Security Administration said retirement benefits nationally will rise by about $75 a month on average.
Disabled workers in the county averaged about $1,525 a month, compared with about $1,581 statewide.
The Macon Chronicle reported Oct. 19 that Census estimates put Macon County's 2024 median household income at about $60,822.
Macon and Monroe counties lead the area in the share of residents drawing Social Security. Comparing the agency's December 2025 counts with the Census Bureau's population estimates for 2020 through 2024, 29.5 percent of Monroe County residents and 29.4 percent of Macon County residents draw benefits. The share is 28.2 percent in Chariton County, 27.8 percent in Shelby County, 27.3 percent in Knox County, 27.2 percent in Linn County, 23.1 percent in Randolph County, and 20.8 percent in Adair County. Statewide, it is 22.9 percent.
Average retired-worker checks in the area ranged from about $1,643 in Knox County to about $1,853 in Monroe County. Macon County's $1,809 sits near the middle, below Monroe, Adair, and Randolph counties and ahead of Chariton, Shelby, Linn, and Knox counties.
The cost-of-living adjustment is tied to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, which the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics measures.
Social Security benefits rise with January payments. People who receive Supplemental Security Income will see their increase in the payment dated Dec. 31, the agency said.
Beneficiaries with an online my Social Security account can see their new benefit notice starting in late November. Anyone who wants the notice online must create an account and sign up for paperless notices at ssa.gov by Nov. 18. Everyone else will get the notice by mail in December.
The 2027 Medicare premium wasn't announced. The agency said Medicare enrollees can see their 2027 premium amount in the my Social Security message center starting in late November.