(NEXSTAR) — After an out-of-order month in December, Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries will see a wonky start to 2025 as well.
Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, beneficiaries include those with disabilities and older adults with little to no income. In 2025, the maximum monthly payment is $967 for an individual and $1,450 for a couple.
According to the Social Security Administration, that amount can decrease based on a person's income, their spouse's income, their living situation, and whether they receive additional support from the state they live in.
SSI payments are distributed monthly, typically on the first day of the month. There are, however, some caveats.
Should the first of the month fall on a weekend or holiday, Social Security sends out the payments on the previous weekday. For example, December's SSI was sent out on November 29, giving beneficiaries two payments in the same month.
What usually happens after a month in which two payments are dispersed is a month in which no payments are sent out (remember, beneficiaries still received the no-payment month's payment, just in the days before that month began). This month was different, thanks to the 2025 calendar.
New Year's Day is considered a holiday, meaning January's SSI payment will be sent out on New Year's Eve, December 31.
An SSI payment will still be dispersed in January: because February 1 falls on a Saturday, February's payment will fall on January 31. Then, because March 1 falls on a Saturday, that month's payment will be sent out on February 28.
There will be no payments sent in March with the calendar returning to normal in April.
So to recap: January's payment comes in December, February's comes in January, March's comes in February, and there is no payment in March.
Regardless of when an SSI payment arrives, beneficiaries will still receive all of their intended checks throughout 2025. Receiving two SSI payments in one month and none in another may, however, lead to some slight budget adjustments.
While those who receive regular Social Security benefits will not see their payments interrupted in January, they will see the cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, kick in.
The latest COLA is 2.5 percent, down from 3.2 percent last year and 8.7 percent in 2022, reflecting easing inflation. COLAs are calculated with a formula based on the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W).
