Each month without fail, tens of millions of vulnerable individuals across the country await their benefit checks from the Social Security Administration (SSA). There are currently around 74 million beneficiaries of the Social Security program, and likely due to the vast volume of recipients, the SSA has structured its payment schedule in a way that spreads payments across the span of the month. The SSA sends checks to beneficiaries of both the regular Social Security benefit, as well as the Supplemental Security Income.
All Supplemental Security Income, or SSI benefits, are typically paid on the first of each month, with some minor fluctuations. The regular Social Security benefit, on the other hand, is paid on Wednesdays throughout the month. The specific Wednesday on which any beneficiary will receive their check is determined based on their date of birth. As such, beneficiaries with birth dates from the 11th to the 20th of their respective birth month can expect to receive their benefit check for October this week on Wednesday, October 15th.
Alongside benefit payments, October 15th was also previously meant to bring along with it the official Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) announcement. Due to the current federal government shutdown, however, this announcement has been pushed back to a new, confirmed date. Here is everything you need to know.
October benefits
Social Security benefits are paid on the second, third, and fourth Wednesday of each month, relative to the beneficiary’s date of birth. For October, payments will be rolled out on the following dates:
- October 8th, Second Wednesday — recipients with birth dates from the 1st to the 10th of their respective birth month
- October 15th, Third Wednesday — recipients with birth dates from the 11th to the 20th of their respective birth month
- October 22nd, Fourth Wednesday — recipients with birth dates from the 21st to the 31st of their respective birth month
The amount any one beneficiary will receive in their benefit check is determined based on their lifetime earnings. During your working career, you will pay a portion of your earnings into the Social Security payroll tax. This will earn you work credits, which will allow you to claim benefits from the SSA once you retire. The age at which you decide to claim will also impact how much you receive. This is because of the Full Retirement Age, or FRA. Benefits can be claimed from age 62, however, the FRA is currently 66-67.
As such, if you claim before FRA, your benefits will be subject to a reduction of up to 30%. Conversely, if you delay claiming until you are 70, you will become eligible for up to 124% of your benefit. The maximum benefit paid by the SSA in 2025 amounts to $5,108. In order to become eligible for this amount, the beneficiary will need to meet 2 requirements:
- earn at the wage cap or higher for a minimum of 35 years
- delay claiming until age 70
New date for COLA announcement
The COLA is an annual increase implemented across all benefits in order to account for year over year inflation. The COLA is calculated using CPI data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Due to the current federal government shutdown, operations at BLS have been halted and as a result, the release of September CPI-W data required for the COLA has been delayed. The announcement was previously scheduled for October 15th, but will now be pushed back to October 24th.
“BLS will publish the September 2025 Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Friday, October 24, 2025, at 8:30 A.M. Eastern Time. No other releases will be rescheduled or produced until the resumption of regular government services. This release allows the Social Security Administration to meet statutory deadlines necessary to ensure the accurate and timely payment of benefits,” as per an October 10th update from BLS.
The 2026 COLA is currently projected to come in at 2.7% based on the data available to date. A COLA of 2.7% would translate to a $54 increase to benefits (relative to the average benefit of around $2,008).