The end of this week marks the end of Social Security benefit payments for the month of September. When glancing at the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Schedule of Social Security Benefit Payments, the number of benefit payments rolled out during September may seem a bit sparse when compared to the payment schedule for the upcoming month of October. This is because some payments for September were made early, and as a result they had been sent out at the end of August.
The benefit payment schedule for October, on the other hand, makes for a rather busy month for the SSA with payments rolling out from day one. As such, here is a complete breakdown of the payment schedule for October for both the regular Social Security, as well as the Supplementary Security Income.
Double payment for some in October
When the SSA begins rolling out its payments for each month, the Supplemental Security Income benefit is typically the first to be sent out. The Supplemental Security Income benefit is paid to adults who have little to no other resources or income, or are blind. In order to qualify for this benefits, the applicant cannot have combined resources exceeding $2,000, and in some cases, an individual can be eligible to receive both the SSI benefit, as well as the regular Social Security benefit.
The SSI benefit is typically paid to beneficiaries on the first of each month, however, a quick glance at the 2025 calendar shows that there was no SSI payment for September. This does not mean that beneficiaries lost out on a payment for this month, but rather, the SSA had paid the September SSI benefit a few days earlier (on August 29th). Even in cases where the SSI payment date fluctuates slightly from the norm, the schedule will still have the correct payment date marked clearly on it.
The reasoning behind this minor fluctuation with payment dates is explained by the SSA as follows: “When the first day of the month falls on the weekend or a federal holiday, you receive your SSI payment on the last business day before the first day of the month. That means you may get two SSI payments in the same month,” as per a 2022 SSA blog post. “We do this to avoid putting you at a financial disadvantage and make sure that you don’t have to wait beyond the first of the month to get your payment. It does not mean that you are receiving a duplicate payment in the previous month, so you do not need to contact us to report the second payment.”
According to the payment schedule, the November SSI benefit will also be paid early, which means that SSI beneficiaries will be seeing not one, but two SSI payments next month. The first SSI payment will be sent out on October 1st and is intended for the month of October. The second SSI payment will be paid on October 31st and is intended for the month of November.
Listed below are the remaining SSI benefit payment dates for the 2025 calendar year:
- August 29th – SSI benefit for September
- October 1st – SSI benefit for October
- October 31st – SSI benefit for November
- December 1st – SSI benefit for December
- December 31st – SSI benefit for January 2026
Listed below are the regular Social Security benefit payment dates for October:
- Second Wednesday, October 8th – recipients with birth dates from the 1st of the month to the 10th
- Third Wednesday, October 15th – recipients with birth dates from the 11th of the month to the 20th
- Fourth Wednesday, October 22nd – recipients with birth dates from the 21st of the month to the 31st
New proposal could cut SSI benefits for many
According to the current stipulations, if an SSI beneficiary is residing in a “public assistance household”, their SSI benefit will not be subject to a reduction based on living situation and this includes SNAP qualifying households. The Trump Administration has, however, proposed a rule change that would remove SNAP households from being considered as “public assistance households”. If this proposed rule change is passed, hundreds of thousands of SSI recipients could be faced with significant cuts to their benefits — with the possibility of some recipients losing their benefits altogether.