By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

Residents of Shelby County receive, on average, the highest Social Security payments in the state after retirement, according to a study recently completed by a national consumer advocacy website.

Smartasset.com recently released its list of the Alabama counties where Social Security payments are the highest, and Shelby County topped the list by a significant margin.

Contemplating where to spend your retirement years? While it’s certainly advisable to have some retirement savings of your own to help pay for your golden years, if you will be relying mostly on Social Security benefits, this study can help. We analyzed where in the U.S. Social Security benefits will go the furthest,” read the website.

While compiling the rankings, the website looked at the average Social Security income for each county, and calculated the taxes a typical retiree would pay on the income.

“Next, we calculated how far that net income would go in every county to cover the basic necessities. We subtracted the county-level cost of typical living expenses from each county’s net Social Security income,” read the website. “Finally, we indexed the results to 100, with 100 showing where Social Security would cover the most needs. Higher scores reflect a better environment for living primarily or exclusively off of Social Security benefits.”

Shelby County retirees receive an average of $20,217 per year in Social Security payments, and the cost of living here is about $20,381, giving Shelby County an overall Social Security index of 78.82. Alabama does not tax Social Security income.

Baldwin County came in at No. 2, with a cost of living of $22,085, annual Social Security payments of $19,346 and an overall index of 73.74.

No. 3 on the list was Blount County, with an average cost of living of $20,381, average annual Social Security payments of $18,868 and an overall index of 70.95.

Lauderdale County came in at No. 4, with an average annual cost of living of $18,749, average annual Social Security payments of $18,777 and an overall index of 70.42.

Rounding out the top five was Colbert County, with an average cost of living of $18,749, average Social Security payments of $18,469 and an overall index of 68.62.

To view the entire list, visit Smartasset.com/retirement/social-security-calculator#alabama/socialsecurity.