The article is devoted to the urgent problem – the study of the availability of state paid social services, the degree of satisfaction of elderly citizens with them, as well as the study of their cost and the proposed spectrum. The article presents the results of quantitative (questionnaire survey) and qualitative (interview) studies conducted by the authors as a part of a research group at the Chair of Sociology of Social Work of Saratov State University in Saratov and the region. Relying on quantitative and qualitative methodologies, the authors analyze the solvency of elderly citizens as recipients of social services, the quality and range of services off ered by the state.