Social Security’s own estimate shows the average retired worker collecting $2,170 a month in January, up $76 from the $2,094 that group averages now. The agency’s table of estimated average benefits ties the gain to a 3.6 percent cost-of-living raise. For a household living mainly on that check, $76 is small against a year of…

Social Security adds two-thirds of 1 percent to a worker’s retirement check for each month the worker waits past full retirement age. For anyone born in 1943 or later, that adds up to 8 percent for every full year of delay, the agency’s delayed retirement credits page says. The extra amount keeps building until the…

Social Security beneficiaries who still get a paper check must switch to an electronic payment, and the agency’s direct deposit page lists the ways to do it. They can sign up online through a personal my Social Security account, in person at a bank or other financial institution, or by phone through Treasury’s Electronic Payment…

Social Security’s benefit table for 2027 shows a top earner who retired at 67 in January 2026 collecting $4,359 a month, and one who retired at 70 that same month collecting $5,368. The $1,009 monthly difference comes to $12,108 a year. Both amounts are for 2027, after the cost-of-living increase, and come from the table…

Social Security has stopped asking people who owe it money to put a check in the mail. In a July 14, 2026 letter to advocacy groups, the agency said it “will no longer ask individuals to mail checks or credit card forms to repay their debts.” People repaying an overpayment are pointed to three electronic…

When a parent who worked dies, Social Security can keep paying their children. The agency’s survivor eligibility page says the benefit is available to a child who is 17 or younger, and to a child aged 18 or 19 only while that child is in school full time, at the K-12 level. Once a child…

A widow or widower who remarries too early can lose the right to a Social Security survivor benefit. Social Security’s survivor eligibility rules say a surviving spouse must not have remarried before age 60, or before age 50 for a spouse who has a disability. The agency last updated that page on December 5, 2024,…

The special minimum benefit for a worker with 30 years of Social Security coverage will be $1,164.10 a month beginning with the December 2026 increase, according to a Social Security Administration notice. The notice also lists a maximum family benefit of $1,748.30 at that level. It is set to appear in the Federal Register on…

Social Security beneficiaries who are paid on the 3rd of the month will receive their January 2027 payment early, on Thursday, December 31, 2026. It is the first check with the 3.6 percent cost-of-living increase built in, and it lands the same day as January’s Supplemental Security Income payment. A holiday and a weekend are…

Social Security field offices in Hoboken, New Jersey; Canarsie, New York; Logan, West Virginia; and Cody, Wyoming are open by phone only, with no in-person service, until further notice. The agency’s office closings page lists each one with that wording and gives no reopening date. Three more offices carry the same notice: Corning and West…