Here’s what the government shutdown means for your Social Security check

The federal government shutdown has the tens of millions of Americans on Social Security concerned about whether they’ll receive the monthly benefits they rely on to pay their bills.

The government is currently in a partial shutdown after Congress failed to reach a funding agreement by the Oct. 1 deadline.

However, Social Security recipients will still receive their monthly benefits despite the shutdown.

“We want you to know that during the federal government shutdown, payments to all people who currently receive Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) will continue with no change in payment dates,” according to an agency statement.

While monthly benefits will continue to be issued on time, the agency’s local field offices will provide reduced service.

Those who visit a field office will still be able to apply for benefits, request an appeal, change their address or direct deposit information, report a death, verify or change their citizenship status, replace a lost or missing Social Security payment, obtain a critical payment, change a representative payee, make a change in their living arrangement or income (SSI recipients only) and obtain a new or replacement Social Security card.

However, services like benefit-proof letters, Medicare card replacement and updates to earnings records are temporarily suspended.

For ongoing information about the government shutdown’s impact on Social Security, the agency encourages recipients to visit ssa.gov/agency/shutdown.

Benefits schedule

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.

However, there are a few exceptions.

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.

Benefit amounts

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.

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 added together, 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.

Checks may be smaller than usual

As of late July, the Social Security Administration has begun withholding up to 50% of monthly benefits from recipients who previously received an overpayment from the agency.

Overpayments typically occur when a recipient fails to update a change in their income that would have resulted in a lower monthly benefit amount.

The agency will continue to withhold up to 50% of the overpaid recipients benefits each month until their overpayment is fully recouped.

After overpayment withholdings were temporarily suspended during the coronavirus pandemic, they were reinstated last year, but at a significantly lower rate of 10%.

In March, the Social Security Administration announced plans to implement a 100% withholding rate, meaning those who were overpaid would not receive any benefits until it was recouped, but the agency changed course in April and settled on the 50% rate.