SSI’s December Payment Lands Tuesday, Dec. 1, the Last One Paid at the 2026 Maximum of $994 Before the Raised Deposit on Dec. 31

The Supplemental Security Income payment that reaches recipients on Tuesday, Dec. 1 is the last one paid at the 2026 federal maximum of $994 a month for an individual. The next deposit comes four weeks later, on Dec. 31, and it carries the 2027 raise.

That makes December an unusual month on the Social Security Administration’s 2026 payment schedule, which lists SSI on the 1st. Here is what the agency’s own pages say about the date, the amounts and the early January deposit.

Tuesday, Dec. 1 Is the December SSI Date

SSA’s 2026 schedule states that SSI is paid on the 1st of the month, and in December 2026 the 1st falls on a Tuesday. A weekday needs no adjustment, so the deposit is due on the day itself.

The schedule also carries a note for people who receive both benefits. It says Social Security is paid on the 3rd and SSI on the 1st for anyone who received Social Security before May 1997 or who gets Social Security and SSI together. People in that group see two separate dates, Dec. 1 for SSI and Dec. 3 for the Social Security check.

Recipients who get only Social Security are on a different calendar. Their December dates follow birthdays and are covered in a separate Tonic Edit article on the Dec. 9 and Dec. 16 Social Security payments.

$994 Is the Last Payment at the 2026 Rate

SSA’s page on SSI benefit rates states that, effective Jan. 1, 2026, the federal benefit rate is $994 for an individual and $1,491 for a couple. Those are maximums. Income such as wages reduces the check, so a recipient with earnings would see a deposit below $994 on Dec. 1 and below $1,029 on Dec. 31. Some states also add their own supplement on top of the federal figure.

The Dec. 1 payment is the final one under those 2026 rates. The standard rose in January 2026 under a 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment, and the same federal rate has applied to every payment since.

For a recipient who receives the full federal amount and nothing else from SSA, the Dec. 1 deposit is therefore $994 and the next one is $1,029. A couple in which both spouses are eligible moves from $1,491 to $1,544 on the same two dates.

Dec. 31 Is the January Payment Arriving Early

SSA’s 2027 schedule, published as a separate PDF, lists SSI on the 1st. January 1, 2027 is a Friday, and the Office of Personnel Management’s federal holiday list names it New Year’s Day.

SSA itself says on its cost-of-living page that increased payments to about 7.3 million SSI recipients will begin on December 31, 2026, a smaller group than the 76 million Americans whose Social Security and SSI benefits rise 3.6 percent in 2027. The agency’s published schedule does not carry a line explaining the mechanism. According to International Business Times, the Dec. 31 deposit is January’s benefit, paid on Thursday, Dec. 31 because Jan. 1 is a holiday, and no SSI payment follows until February.

The practical result is two SSI deposits in one calendar month, with the second one standing in for all of January. The earlier Tonic Edit article on the two December SSI payments covers how recipients can plan around that gap.

Put side by side, the two dates are 30 days apart. The first falls on a Tuesday and the second on a Thursday, and both are ordinary business days, so neither depends on a weekend adjustment.

$1,029 and $1,544 Arrive With the Dec. 31 Deposit

According to the SSA Office of the Chief Actuary, the 2027 federal monthly amounts are $1,029 for an eligible individual and $1,544 for an eligible individual with an eligible spouse. The same page states that the unrounded 2027 amounts equal the unrounded 2026 amounts increased by 3.6 percent.

Measured against the 2026 standards, that is an increase of $35 for an individual, from $994 to $1,029, and $53 for a couple, from $1,491 to $1,544. The Dec. 1 deposit is the last one paid at the lower figures.

A recipient whose check is reduced by income will see a smaller dollar change than the maximums suggest, because the raise applies to the federal standard rather than to the final amount after deductions.

Two Deposits, One Month Without a Third

The Dec. 1 and Dec. 31 dates leave the weeks in between without an SSI deposit, and January passes with none. The next SSI payment after Dec. 31 comes in February.

Recipients who budget around the 1st of the month have the clearest picture by treating the two December deposits as the payments for December and January. Rent, utilities and other bills due in early January are covered by the Dec. 31 deposit rather than by a January payment.

Social Security Administration publications describe no separate application or action for the Dec. 31 date. Both deposits are tied to the same monthly SSI schedule, and the 2027 dates sit on the agency’s own calendar.

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: Timothy Shields – CC BY 3.0/Wikimedia Commons