Social Security to send 2 payments to some in October: Here’s the full payment schedule

Some beneficiaries will receive two payments this October, as calendar scheduling creates an unusual month for the Social Security Administration.

According to AL.com, people who receive Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, should have received their first payment on Wednesday, Oct. 1, which will be followed by a second payment on Friday, Oct. 30.

This calendar arrangement means SSI recipients will receive two checks in October but none in November. This is because the first day of November falls on a Saturday.

A similar situation will occur in December, when recipients will receive Social Security benefits on Monday, Dec. 1, and Wednesday, Dec. 31, since Jan. 1, 2026, is a federal holiday.

The payment schedule affects approximately 7.5 million Americans who receive SSI each month, including nearly 2.4 million people ages 65 and older.

SSI eligibility requires being at least 65 years old, blind, or having a disability, along with very limited financial resources.

Social Security benefits

When recipients receive their monthly benefits varies based on their birthdate.

For those with a birthdate between the first and the 10th of the month, benefits are issued on the second Wednesday of each month.

Those with birthdates between the 11th and the 20th receive their checks on the third Wednesday of the month, and those born between the 21st and 31st get theirs on the fourth Wednesday.

Those who have received Social Security benefits since before May 1997 and those who receive both Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security Income will see their checks come in earlier in the month.

For members of those groups, SSI benefits will be issued on the first of each month, with Social Security benefits following a few days later on the third of the month.

The Social Security Administration provides a comprehensive schedule of benefit payments for 2025, which is publicly available on the SSA website.

The maximum retirement benefit is currently $5,108, but most recipients will likely receive a much lower amount, with the average monthly benefit for retired workers sitting at $2,008.31 as of August 2025, according to data from the Social Security Administration.

Monthly retirement benefit amounts vary based on when a worker retires and how much they earned throughout their life.

Those who retire later in life have higher maximum benefits. For 2025, those who retired at 62 have a maximum benefit of $2,831, while those who wait until full retirement age (67) have a maximum benefit of $4,018, and those who retire at 70 have a maximum benefit of $5,108, according to the Social Security Administration.

Government shutdown

Social Security monthly payments will continue uninterrupted as the federal government shutdown takes effect. Roughly 74 million Americans who depend on the program will receive their benefits as scheduled.

According to CBS News, the Social Security program operates through mandatory spending, meaning Congress has already approved its budget and the funding is not subject to annual renewal.

While benefit payments remain secure, other Social Security Administration services face potential disruptions. Benefit verifications, earnings record corrections, and replacement Medicare cards could be affected during the shutdown period.

Increased benefits in 2025

Last October, the Social Security Administration announced a 2.5% cost of living adjustment (COLA) for 2025, which resulted in a roughly $50 boost in monthly benefits for the tens of millions of Americans who receive Social Security.

The 2.5% increase was the lowest since 2020, when monthly benefits increased by just 1.3%, but was relatively in line with past increases, with the COLA averaging out at 2.6% over the past two decades.

Cost-of-living adjustments are determined using third-quarter data – July, August and September – from the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W).

Inflation for those three months is aggregated, averaged and then compared to the previous year’s third-quarter average, with the percentage difference between the current year and the previous year serving as the COLA rate for the upcoming year.