Living on a fixed income such as Social Security, particularly if this is your primary or sole source of income, can require some meticulous budgeting or planning to ensure ends are sufficiently met. With September drawing to a close this week, most households are likely in the process of finalizing their budgets for the next month, and since the Social Security Administration (SSA) uploads its payment schedule for the full calendar year on its website, this can be done with ease.
For the most part, the payment schedule follows a rigid structure, however, in the case of the Supplemental Security Income, or SSI benefit, the payment date does tend to fluctuate slightly. These fluctuations are never more than a few days, and if the payment date fluctuates, the SSI benefit will always be rolled out earlier and never later.
This small scheduling quirk is due to occur with the October and November SSI payments as well. Here is everything you need to know.
“Bonus” check for beneficiaries in October
Typically, the Supplemental Security Income, or SSI benefit, is paid to eligible recipients on the first of each month. However, if the first of the month falls on a holiday or the weekend, the SSA will move this payment up by a few days, which means that beneficiaries will receive it earlier at the end of the previous month. As such, if you look at the SSA’s official Schedule of Social Security Benefit Payments for 2025, you will see that there are not one, but two SSI payments scheduled for the month of October. The first payment is scheduled for October 1st, and the second payment is scheduled for October 31st.
If you look further to November’s payment schedule, you will also notice that there is no SSI benefit payment scheduled for the entire month. This is because the October 31st SSI payment is the November SSI benefit, it is just being paid early so that beneficiaries can have their monthly benefit as the month starts rather than facing any delays. So while it may appear as though October has a bonus benefit payment, this is not the case nor is it an error of any sort.
“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,” the SSA previously explained in a blog post from 2022. “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.”
Full list of payment dates for October
Unlike the SSI payment, the regular Social Security benefit is rolled out on a rigid schedule with no fluctuations. This benefit is paid to beneficiaries on the second, third, and fourth Wednesday of each month, relative to the recipient’s date of birth. As such, listed below is a complete outline of payment dates for both the regular Social Security benefit, as well as the SSI benefit in October:
- October 1st — SSI benefit for October
- October 8th, second Wednesday — Social Security benefit for recipients with birth dates from the 1st to the 10th of their respective birth month
- October 15th, third Wednesday — Social Security benefit for recipients with birth dates from the 11th to the 20th of their respective birth month
- October 22nd, fourth Wednesday — Social Security benefit for recipients with birth dates from the 21st to the 31st of their respective birth month
- October 31st — SSI benefit for November
If, however, a beneficiary qualifies to receive both the regular benefit, as well as the SSI benefit, the SSA notes the following: “If you received Social Security before May 1997 or if receiving both Social Security & SSI, Social Security is paid on the 3rd and SSI on the 1st.”