Supplemental Security Income recipients will see two deposits in December 2026. The first lands Tuesday, Dec. 1, the regular first-of-the-month payment. The second lands Thursday, Dec. 31, and it is the first payment at the higher 2027 rate.
The Social Security Administration announced on Oct. 14 that a 3.6 percent cost-of-living adjustment takes effect for 2027. The agency counts about 7.3 million people on SSI, and its cost-of-living FAQ says plainly: “Increased SSI payments will begin with the December 31, 2026 payment.”
Why does December carry two SSI payments?
SSI is paid on the first of each month. Jan. 1, 2027, is New Year’s Day, so Social Security delivers the January payment on Dec. 31, 2026, the last day of the year. That makes the Dec. 31 deposit the January payment arriving early. It is not a bonus and it is not a 13th check.
Anyone on SSI who budgets by the calendar month has a job to do with that. The Dec. 1 deposit covers December’s bills as usual. The Dec. 31 deposit has to stretch through all of January, because no SSI payment lands in January itself and the next one is due Monday, Feb. 1.
What changed this year: Social Security and Medicare change every year, and nobody sends you a memo. The Retirement Money Brief breaks down what changed and what to do.
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What is the higher 2027 SSI rate?
Social Security’s 2027 fact sheet sets the SSI federal payment standard at $1,029 a month for an individual and $1,544 a month for a couple. In 2026 the standards are $994 and $1,491. That is an increase of $35 a month for an individual and $53 for a couple.
The payment standard is the base federal amount. What any one person receives can be lower when other income counts against the benefit, and some states add their own supplement on top. The SSA’s SSI cost-of-living page lists the 2027 figures and says the increase is effective for January 2027.
What changes for people who get both Social Security and SSI?
The 3.6 percent adjustment is tied to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, and it reaches about 76 million people across both programs. Social Security says the average retirement benefit rises about $75 a month. SSI recipients get the same percentage, applied to the federal standard.
Retirement and disability benefits rise on a different schedule. Social Security says the increase applies to benefits paid starting in January 2027, so only SSI moves up a day early on Dec. 31. People who receive both will see the SSI raise first and the Social Security raise in January.
Commissioner Frank Bisignano said Social Security “will implement this cost-of-living adjustment for 76 million Americans.” The agency says most beneficiaries with a my Social Security account created by Nov. 18 can read their notice online in early December. Everyone else gets a letter in December, and the agency advises waiting until January before calling if one has not come.
What will the second December deposit actually be?
The notice matters here. SSA mails or posts a cost-of-living letter that states the new monthly amount, and the Dec. 31 deposit is the first time that amount shows up in a recipient’s account. Anyone who sees a different figure than the letter says can ask the agency to explain the difference.
For most recipients the answer is the same amount as the regular check, raised by the 3.6 percent adjustment, with the new $1,029 or $1,544 standard as the ceiling before income reductions. The exact dollar figure for any one household appears on the December notice and in the deposit itself.
The open question for each household is how to spread one extra-early deposit across January. Social Security’s SSI page gives the standards, and the notice in December gives the personal number.
Budgeting a December with two SSI deposits?
The risk in a two-deposit month is spending the Dec. 31 payment as if it were December’s and arriving at the end of January with nothing left. Income that changes or a report that is missed can also shrink the amount that arrives.
The SSI & Disability Action Kit lays out the 2026 SSI income and resource limits and the review and reporting steps, and it includes an income and resource organizer for tracking what counts against a check.
Get the SSI limits and reporting-steps kit for a two-deposit December →
More Financial Reading
- 21 Ways to Stretch a $2,087 Social Security Check
- 15 Places to Find Your Share of the $4.25 Billion States Give Back
- 17 Medicare Money Moves Now That Part D Caps at $2,400
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
