{"id":222056,"date":"2026-01-01T18:03:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T18:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/222056\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T18:03:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T18:03:13","slug":"social-security-benefits-are-going-out-on-friday-jan-2-heres-whos-getting-a-payment-tomorrow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/222056\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Security benefits are going out on Friday, Jan. 2: here\u2019s who\u2019s getting a payment tomorrow"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tomorrow, Friday Jan. 2, certain recipients of Social Security<\/a> benefits are to get their first monthly payment of the new year, as the Social Security Administration (SSA) embarks on its 2026 distribution schedule.<\/p>\n

The payment date, which benefits two groups of Social Security recipients, comes slightly earlier than usual. It would usually fall 24 hours later, but has been brought forward as Jan. 3 is a weekend day.<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s receiving a payment from Social Security on Jan. 2?Some long-term beneficiaries<\/p>\n

The SSA is to send out payments to a particular group of long-standing Social Security recipients: those who signed up for retirement benefits, Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or survivor pay before May 1997.<\/p>\n

Beneficiaries who also get SSI<\/p>\n

Jan. 2 is also your payment date for retirement, SSDI or survivor checks if you combine any of these benefits with Supplemental Security Income<\/a> (SSI) – a scheme for low-income, low-resource Americans who are over 65 or have a disability. (January\u2019s SSI money was to go out two days earlier, on Wednesday, Dec. 31<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

How much do retirement, SSDI and survivor beneficiaries get?<\/p>\n

As of November 2025 – the most recent monthly figures published by the SSA<\/a> – retired workers get $2,013.32 per month on average; disabled workers were paid a monthly average of $1,588.52; and beneficiaries of survivor pay received average of $1,576.20 a month. <\/p>\n

From January, however, benefit amounts are to go up. In October, the SSA announced<\/a> that recipients are to benefit from a 2.8% rise in their monthly checks, as part of the agency\u2019s annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). <\/p>\n

For recipients of retirement benefits – who make up the majority of the U.S.\u2019s Social Security beneficiaries – this means an average increase of $56 per month, the SSA says. To find out more about 2026\u2019s adjusted benefit amounts, check out this COLA fact sheet<\/a> shared by the agency.<\/p>\n

When do other Social Security recipients get their January benefits?<\/p>\n

If not among those paid on Jan. 2, recipients of retirement, SSDI or survivor benefits are to be paid on the second, third or fourth Wednesday in January. <\/p>\n

A beneficiary\u2019s designated Wednesday depends on the date of birth of the worker whose Social Security taxes have accumulated the benefits entitlement:<\/p>\n

Born on 1st-10th of month: Weds., Jan. 14Born on 11th-20th of month: Weds., Jan. 21Born on 21st-31st of month: Weds., Jan. 28<\/p>\n

Because January begins on a Thursday, the month\u2019s three Wednesday-payment dates come at their latest possible point<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can check out the SSA\u2019s complete schedule of payments for 2026 in this online calendar<\/a>.<\/p>\n

How does Social Security send out payments?<\/p>\n

The SSA says<\/a> it is \u201cin most cases\u201d no longer distributing benefits in paper-check format. Instead, the agency gives beneficiaries two ways of picking up electronic payments:<\/p>\n

By providing the SSA with their bank-account details, beneficiaries can be paid by direct deposit. <\/p>\n

Recipients of retirement, SSDI and survivor benefits can update their banking information on the agency\u2019s \u201cmy Social Security\u201d<\/a> online portal. SSI beneficiaries, meanwhile, should call 1-800-772-1213.<\/p>\n

Beneficiaries can also have their monthly payments sent to the Direct Express Card, a special debit card<\/a> for federal disbursements made to people without a bank account. You can sign up for the card by calling 1-800-333-1795 or going to the Direct Express website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Dive into live coverage, expert insights, breaking news, exclusive videos, and more \u2013 plus, stay updated on the latest in current affairs and entertainment. Download now for all-access coverage<\/a>, right at your fingertips \u2013 anytime, anywhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tomorrow, Friday Jan. 2, certain recipients of Social Security benefits are to get their first monthly payment of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[72,176,61,60,174,175],"class_list":{"0":"post-222056","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}