The Social Security Administration (SSA) is the federal agency tasked with ensuring all Social Security benefits are paid to beneficiaries on time on a monthly basis. The SSA pays two types of benefits to recipients each month: the regular Social Security benefit (which is paid to retirees, disabled individuals, and survivors), and the Supplemental Security Income benefit (which is paid to older adults, or disabled individuals who have little to no other income or resources.)
The dates on which these benefits are paid each month can be found on the SSA’s Schedule of Social Security Benefit Payments on the agency’s website. This payment schedules contains the payment dates for both the regular Social Security benefit, as well as the Supplemental Security Income benefit for the full calendar year. The regular benefit is paid out on Wednesdays throughout the month, while the Supplemental Security Income is generally paid out on the first of each month.
For a very small cohort of beneficiaries, the September benefit will be the last benefit received in the form of a paper check as the SSA is urging all beneficiaries to update their payment method to an electronic one in accordance with a broader federal initiative. Here is everything you need to know.
Social Security September payments
The SSA sends out payments for the regular Social Security benefit on the second, third, and fourth Wednesday of each month. The specific Wednesday on which a beneficiary will receive their monthly benefit income is determined in relation to their date of birth. For the current month of September, the first of the three total payments would have already been sent out as of September 10th. The next benefit is scheduled to be rolled out on Wednesday, September 17th which is in this week.
The complete list of Social Security benefit payment dates for the month of September are listed below as follows:
- Second Wednesday, September 10th – recipients with birth dates from the 1st of the month to the 10th
- Third Wednesday, September 17th – recipients with birth dates from the 11th of the month to the 20th
- Fourth Wednesday, September 24th – recipients with birth dates from the 21st of the month to the 31st
Additionally, there is no Supplemental Security Income payment scheduled for the entirety of September. This is because the SSI benefit had been paid to eligible beneficiaries earlier on, in the previous month (on August 29th). As such, the remaining payment dates for the SSI benefit for the 2025 calendar year are listed below:
- 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
Goodbye paper checks?
Following a March 25th executive order aimed at modernizing all payments to and from America’s bank account, the SSA announced on July 14th that it would no longer issue paper checks to beneficiaries as of September 30th. As a result, the agency is now actively encouraging all beneficiaries who receive paper checks to update their payment information to one of the two following electronic options:
- Direct Deposit: Beneficiaries should enroll in direct deposit with their financial institution. Payments can be deposited directly into your checking or savings account.
- Direct Express® Card: For people without a bank account, the Direct Express card is a prepaid debit card designed specifically for federal benefit payments.
More than 99% of beneficiaries already receive their monthly benefits electronically, however, if a beneficiary is unable to switch over their payment method, an exception can be made, and these beneficiaries will need to apply for a waiver. According to GoDirect, the Department of Treasury will grant a waiver under the following circumstances:
- The check recipient is an individual to whom electronic payments would impose a hardship due to a mental impairment.
- The check recipient lives in a remote geographic location lacking the infrastructure to support electronic financial transactions.
- The check recipient is age 90 or above.