The Social Security Administration (SSA) is distributing payments to recipients this week. Beneficiaries with birthdays falling between the 21st and 30th of any month who began claiming benefits post-May 1997 will receive their payment on Wednesday, October 23. If your monthly payment does not arrive as expected, the SSA advises waiting three business days before reaching out to the agency.
Business days exclude Saturdays, Sundays, and federal holidays. Social Security benefits are disbursed monthly, and the amount you receive is determined by various factors, including the age at which you start claiming benefits and your income during your highest earning years.
In 2024, the highest benefit amount of $4,873 is available only to those retiring at age 70. Conversely, individuals who start collecting at the earliest age of 62 can receive a maximum benefit of $2,710.
Update on Social Security Payments
As of January 2024, the typical monthly benefit was reported at $1,907. Earlier this month, recipients were informed that their benefits would rise by 2.5 percent in 2025, a result of the Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA). COLA is determined using the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), which measures expenditures by working-class Americans.
This 2.5 percent increase means that an individual currently receiving $1,870 monthly from the SSA could see their payments increase by approximately $46.80 the following year, according to Mary Johnson, an independent analyst specializing in Social Security and Medicare policy. “The 2025 COLA will represent the smallest increase since 2021, while elevated prices continue to impact key essentials like housing, meats, car insurance, and various services and repairs,” Johnson stated. “Despite being the lowest COLA since 2021, a 2.5 percent adjustment is considered fairly typical.”
Analysts anticipated that the 2025 COLA would be smaller compared to previous years, given the consistent decline in inflation after a significant surge in 2022.
Inflation decreased from 3.7 percent in September 2023 to 2.3 percent in September 2024. The COLA increase for 2023 was the most substantial on record, with a boost of 8.7 percent for seniors, stemming from a period of high inflation triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, which saw a peak rate of 9.2 percent in 2022.
