If they were able to save a million, they wouldn't be getting an average social security check. They'd be getting probably the max, at 40K or so a year. Plus,

If they were able to save a million, they wouldn't be getting an average social security check. They'd be getting probably the max, at 40K or so a year. Plus, they could safely draw 4%. So that person would be at around 80K a year. To your point, that's still firmly middle-class, but with a paid off home, it's not nothing, either.