Before June 1997, all Social Security benefits were paid on the third of the month.
However, as the number of beneficiaries grew, the single-day payout method became unwieldy, prompting the Social Security Administration to spread distribution across four days each month.
The majority of the schedule is straightforward. The second Wednesday of the month is for beneficiaries whose birthdays fall between the first and the 10th of the month. The third Wednesday of the month is for those with birthdays between the 11th and 20th of their respective months; the fourth Wednesday is for those born between the 21st and the 31st.
The schedule is trickier for Supplemental Security Income payments, benefits that go to millions of low-income seniors as well as people with disabilities or blindness. SSI payments are typically sent on the first of the month, for example, on July 1. However, the agency changes the schedule when the first falls on a weekend or a holiday, as it does in August.
Instead of August’s payment arriving on the first, it will be deposited on Friday, July 31 since Aug. 1 is a Saturday. Technically, this means there will be two SSI payments in July and none in August.
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SSI payments will arrive on the first of September and October, before a second distribution on Oct. 30 since Nov. 1 is on a Sunday. SSI recipients will also receive two payments in December – Dec. 1 and 31. That change is because Jan. 1, 2027, is the New Year’s Day holiday.
Beneficiaries who receive Social Security before May 1997 or who are receiving both Social Security and SSI are paid on a different schedule. In those cases, Social Security is paid on the third of the month and SSI on the first – with the standard exception for holidays and weekends.
The maximum monthly SSI payment is $994 for an individual and $1,491 for a couple, with the monthly individual average of $738.
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