Staffing cuts and office closures at the Social Security Administration (SSA), driven by Elon Musk‘s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), are estimated to force seniors to make nearly 2 million additional annual trips for necessary in-person assistance, according to a new study.
Newsweek reached out to the SSA for comment.
Why It Matters
Social Security provides vital support to nearly 69 million Americans each month, including retired workers and disabled individuals. Record backlogs and rising demand from an aging population, in addition to reduced staffing and cuts to long-held phone services, could hit rural seniors and disabled Americans the hardest—forcing beneficiaries, some with mobility issues or lack of technology access, into long lines at SSA offices or risking benefit interruptions.
What to Know
Researchers at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), in new data released Tuesday, say DOGE cuts plus revised SSA protocols are estimated to require people to make over 1.93 million additional trips annually to understaffed field offices each year—equating to more than 1 million wasted hours on unnecessary travel every year.
Data was accumulated by analyzing SSA field office maps, the OpenTimes travel times database, and the geographic distribution of seniors (people aged 65 and over) from the Census Bureau’s 2023 American Community Survey.
“Our estimates are very conservative because when they’re talking about the time, it’s just the time literally to travel from one point to another and back,” Devin O’Connor, a CBPP senior fellow and study co-author, told Newsweek. “It doesn’t take into account traffic, time of day, other things that come into effect.
“But also, it doesn’t take into account how long you might spend waiting in a field office or how hard it is to get an appointment to go to a field office in the first place.”
The study estimates that nationally, assuming no traffic, half of all seniors must drive at least 33 minutes for a field office visit while nearly a quarter of seniors (roughly 13.5 million) live more than an hour’s drive roundtrip from their nearest field office.
In 31 states, including Oregon and Missouri, more than 25 percent of seniors must travel over an hour to access their nearest office. In some states, like Arkansas and Wyoming, more than 40 percent of seniors must make long treks for services.
Initially, on April 14 and due to SSA changes, phone service was meant to no longer be an option for retirees and survivors applying for benefits, or for beneficiaries making direct deposit changes. In-office appearances were required.
The SSA quickly reversed its own policy on telephone applications, saying most applicants could still apply by phone. But as of last month, beneficiaries are no longer able to make direct deposit changes solely by phone and transactions require either a multifactor, multistep online identity authentication, or an in-person visit.
Kathleen Romig, director of Social Security and disability policy at CBPP, told Newsweek that beneficiaries for years were able to update their banking information over the phone. Now, they have to log into an online portal and get a custom PIN number, or go into a field office in person to authenticate their identities.
“First, you have to call wait on the phone. Then, you have to wait to get an appointment, and most people aren’t able to get an appointment within a month’s time, and then you have to drive into the field office,” Romig said. “Those burdens accumulate on seniors and people with disabilities.”
Travel becomes more difficult for those who live in rural areas or have transportation or mobility difficulties. It’s estimated that over 6 million seniors in the U.S. don’t drive, and another 8 million report a medical condition or disability that makes travel difficult.
Now-deleted figures released by SSA in April showed that nearly 2,000 SSA field office staffers took a voluntary separation incentive payment (VSIP, or buyout). That impacted dozens of field offices where greater than 25 of the workforce accepted buyouts, though offices vary in size and personnel.
“Almost 60 percent, six out of 10 people, are waiting more than four weeks to get into a field office, so there’s no reason to think that a direct deposit change is going to be prioritized over a benefit claim,” O’Connor said. “So, people who are no longer able to do this over the phone are going to be kept waiting and then have to make that travel.”
In March, Senate Democrats warned that SSA would close 47 field offices and six of its 10 regional offices, eliminating up to 12 percent of its total staff. This downsizing, according to lawmakers, was projected to mean an extra 75,000 to 85,000 Americans will have to visit local offices in person every week.
Additional foot traffic may overwhelm the remaining offices, exacerbating case backlogs, increasing wait times, and delay benefit payments, according to the Wall Street Journal and employee unions.
“I was thinking about as like my 70-year-old mom, but also my 90-year-old great aunt—those are two different levels of Internet fluency and they need to be able to serve both populations,” O’Connor said. “By moving to this kind of process, there’s just going to be a lot of people who are not able to complete this process and they are creating this burden to attack what to date is a very, very small amount of fraud and the primary source originating fraud risk.
“It just feels like the cost-benefit analysis has not occurred. The fraud reductions burden trade-off has not been meaningfully engaged with.”
What People Are Saying
Martin O’Malley, former Social Security Commissioner said: “Ultimately, you’re going to see the system collapse and an interruption of benefits. I believe you will see that within the next 30 to 90 days.” (Senate Democrats, March 25, 2025).
Rich Couture, spokesperson for the American Federation of Government Employees’ Social Security Administration general committee said: “What’s being served by that by a loss of 7,000 jobs? How does any of that supposedly makes this operation more efficient? How does it improve service? How does it improve productivity? Our position is that losing 7,000 people doesn’t do any of those things.”
Anonymous SSA employee and military veteran told The Guardian: “They have these ‘concepts of plans’ that they’re hoping are sticking but in reality, are really hurting American people.”
What Happens Next
The Social Security Administration is moving forward with office closures and service changes, with unions, advocates and Congress watching closely. Official timelines for further closures and restructuring remain pending.
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