The Social Security Administration (SSA) has closed the books on August. Yesterday’s deposit, on Wednesday, August 26, was the fourth-Wednesday payment for beneficiaries born between the 21st and the 31st, and it was the last Social Security payment dated in August.

The next money out the door is Supplemental Security Income (SSI) on Tuesday, September 1. Between that date and Thursday, October 1, SSA’s published payment calendar sets six payment dates, one inflation reading that helps decide the 2027 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), and the end of the federal fiscal year.

For millions of retirees, disabled workers, survivors, and SSI recipients, this stretch of the calendar is especially important. The timing of each deposit can affect monthly budgeting, while the upcoming inflation data will provide another key clue about how much Social Security benefits could increase in 2027.

September opens with SSI on the 1st and the pre-1997 group on the 3rd

SSI is paid on the 1st of each month, and September 1 falls on a Tuesday, so the payment goes out on its regular date. It is worth remembering that there was no SSI payment dated in August at all: because August 1 was a Saturday, that month’s payment was issued early, on Friday, July 31.

Two days later, on Thursday, September 3, SSA pays the group that sits outside the birth-date system: people who have received benefits since before May 1997, and people who receive both Social Security and SSI. That date does not move with the birthday rule.

Three Wednesdays, sorted by date of birth

Everyone else is paid on one of three Wednesdays, according to the day of the month on which they were born:

Wednesday, September 9 — birth dates from the 1st to the 10th.
Wednesday, September 16 — birth dates from the 11th to the 20th.
Wednesday, September 23 — birth dates from the 21st to the 31st.

None of these dates lands on a weekend, so none needs adjusting. The agency’s standing rule, set out in its payment-date FAQ, is that “if your regularly scheduled payment date falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal public holiday, benefits will be paid the business day before your due date”. That is why the calendar shifts in some months and not in others.

Friday, September 11: the second of the three COLA months

The date to mark for next year’s raise is Friday, September 11, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the August reading of the CPI-W, the consumer price index for urban wage earners and clerical workers. By law, the COLA is the increase in the CPI-W from the third quarter of the last COLA year to the third quarter of this one, which means July, August and September are the only three months that count. July is in the books; August arrives on the 11th; September is the last piece.

The estimates in circulation are not official. The Senior Citizens League put its projection at 3.6% on August 12, down from the 3.8% it estimated on August 3, while independent analyst Mary Johnson estimated 3.4% on the same day. SSA’s own number is expected on Wednesday, October 14, alongside the September CPI release.

September 30 and October 1: the fiscal year turns

Federal fiscal year 2026 ends on Wednesday, September 30. The following day, Thursday, October 1, does double duty: it is the October SSI payment date, and it is the day SNAP figures reset for fiscal year 2027. Those new SNAP allotments had not been published as of August 21, so the fiscal 2026 amounts — a maximum of $298 a month for a single-person household in the 48 contiguous states and DC — remain in force through September 30.

The funding picture behind that date was unresolved as of August 20: the Senate passed a continuing resolution on August 8 running to December 11, the House passed a different measure, and the two had not been reconciled. Social Security and SSI are mandatory spending and continue during a lapse in appropriations.

After October 1 the calendar keeps moving: the pre-May-1997 group is paid early on Friday, October 2, because October 3 is a Saturday, and October 14 brings both the final COLA month and the 2027 announcement.