What Happens to Social Security as More Workers Leave the U.S.?
Written by Dana George for The Motley Fool -> Between the number of Americans moving abroad and number of workers deported, it's natural that less is being paid in Social Security taxes. A rapidly aging American population, low birthrates, and too few workers paying into Social
Between the number of Americans moving abroad and number of workers deported, it's natural that less is being paid in Social Security taxes.
A rapidly aging American population, low birthrates, and too few workers paying into Social Security all add to an increasingly challenging problem.
According to the nonpartisan Brookings Institution, as many as 295,000 Americans left the U.S. last year to settle in other countries. In January 2026, Kristi Noem, then Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, announced that nearly 3 million non-residents were deported during President Donald Trump's first year back in office. At the same time, a Cato Institute analysis shows that legal immigration has also fallen, with 132,000 fewer people moving into the U.S. per month.
Regardless of your political leanings or how you feel about foreigners working in the U.S., everything -- from the well-being of local economies to the Social Security trust fund -- will be affected by the outflow of working-age adults. Here's what happens to Social Security when there are more people moving out of the U.S . than there are moving in.
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Given the recent exodus of workers, fewer people are paying into Social Security, which puts an extra strain on an already strained system.
In terms of the number of foreigners leaving, data from the American Immigration Council underscores that most public programs, such as Social Security and Medicaid, are limited to U.S. citizens and specific groups of legal immigrants. Despite that, undocumented immigrants paid $26.2 billion into the Social Security trust fund in 2023 alone, and that loss is expected to add to Social Security's woes.
There were already serious concerns about Social Security before more people began to leave. According to a June 9, 2026, announcement by the Social Security Administration (SSA), the trust fund that millions of Americans depend on to keep their benefits flowing is set to run dry by the end of 2033. Whether the rapidly shrinking workforce pushes that date forward or not, a lack of working-age adults in the country exacerbates the program's long-run financing picture.
