People who were born between November 11th and December 20th and are eligible for retirement, survivor, and disability insurance (RSDI) will get their December benefits next week on Wednesday, December 18th.
This is after yesterday’s payment. Remember that the only people who will get their monthly checks on that day are RSDI recipients who applied for benefits after May 1997 and met the other requirements shown above.
As soon as this payment is sent, the only payment left to send is to people born between January 21 and December 31. If you are currently eligible for this program’s benefits, find out more about the different payment amounts and what you need to do to get them.
Social Security will deliver a new $4,873 check for retirees on December 18th
American retirees who have claimed their benefits at least once, at age 62, and who have paid their payroll taxes throughout their working lives get between $1,900 and $4,873 every month from the Social Security Administration.
Still, beneficiaries will get different amounts of money depending on their age and the amount of payroll taxes they paid. For example, people who apply for retirement benefits before they reach the full retirement age (FRA), which is 62, will be able to get up to $2,710 a month.
Their actual monthly checks may be less, though, depending on how much Social Security tax they paid. As a result, some retirees will get benefits worth about $1,900 per month.
Besides these amounts, the SSA will also pay up to $3,822 to beneficiaries who choose to wait until they reach 67, which is the full retirement age (FRA).
Lastly, the federal government offers a maximum benefit of $4,873 per month to retirees who chose to wait to get benefits until they turned 70 and had already paid their payroll taxes based on the highest amount of money they were taxable for.
Beneficiaries should know that it is not easy to get the most out of Social Security. You have to have paid the highest rate of taxes for 35 years in a row in order to qualify.
Because of this, you should talk to a financial advisor or Social Security expert about your specific situation. They can help you and increase your chances of getting this monthly payment.
There will be an extra Social Security payment in December
This month, people who get Supplemental Security Income (SSI), which is different from retirement benefits, will get an extra SSI payment on December 31st. The Social Security Administration usually only sends out five rounds of payments each month.
However, because January 1 is a holiday, these people will get their January benefits early. That is why people who get SSI will be the first to get the new, bigger Social Security checks that include the cost of living adjustment (COLA) for 2025. Because the COLA increase was set at 2.5%, here are the new amounts that SSI recipients will get in the last week of the year:
| SSI benefits | Social Security checks | 2.57% COLA increase | 2.63% COLA increase |
| On average | $698 | $716 | $716 |
| Individuals | $943 | $967 | $968 |
| Couples | $1,415 | $1,451 | $1,452 |
| Essential person | $472 | $484 | $484 |
When will retirees, survivors, and disabled people receive their increased Social Security checks?
According to the Social Security payment schedule for 2025, beneficiaries from the RSDI program will receive their increased Social Security payments on the following dates:
- On January 3rd (claimed before May 1997): this payment will reach retirees, survivors, and disabled Americans regardless of the day they were born.
- On January 8th (claimed after May 1997): this payment will reach retirees, survivors, and disabled Americans whose birthdates fall between the 1st and the 10th.
- On January 15th (claimed after May 1997): this payment will reach retirees, survivors, and disabled Americans whose birthdates fall between the 11th and the 20th.
- On January 22nd (claimed after May 1997): this payment will reach retirees, survivors, and disabled Americans whose birthdates fall between the 21st and the 31st.
