Social Security update: Payments of up to $4,873 to go out this week

Millions of Social Security recipients will receive their monthly payment this week.

This Wednesday July 10, Social Security retirees with birthdays that fall between the 1st and 10th of any given month will be sent their retirement check by the Social Security Administration (SSA).

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Around 70 million people receive some form of benefit from the SSA, with about 50 million of these being retired workers. According to the SSA, retired workers and their dependents accounted for 77.8 percent of all benefits paid out in 2023.

Not every recipient is paid on the same date. Payments for those born on dates later in the month will receive their payment in the coming weeks. Retirement checks are usually distributed on a Wednesday starting in the second week of the month, unless a retiree also collects Supplemental Security Income (SSI)—which is for those with very limited or no income—or has been collecting Social Security payments since before May 1997. Payments to these beneficiaries are made on the 1st and 3rd of the month respectively.

Those with birthdays between the 11th and 20th will be paid on Wednesday July 17, followed by those who were born between the 21st and 31st being paid on the following Wednesday, July 24.

The SSA recommends waiting three working days before contacting it if your payment has not arrived when scheduled.

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How much retirement benefit you receive is based on several factors, including the age you started claiming and how much you earned during your highest-paid working years.

In 2024, the $4,873 limit is available only to those who retired at age 70. If you stop working and begin claiming at your retirement benefits at 62, the earliest age possible, your maximum benefit would be $2,710. The average amount paid out in January this year was $1,907.

Retirees can check how much money they should get using SSA’s online calculator.

Retirement payments this year have been boosted due to the annual cost-of-living adjustment, otherwise known as COLA. This year, recipients are receiving 3.2 percent more than their monthly checks throughout 2023.

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All benefits are legally required to increase every year in line with the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). The rise is based on the average of the CPI-W in the third quarter of the year—July, August, and September.

In 2023, benefits rose by 8.7 percent—the largest single jump in the SSA’s history—due to high inflation while the country was coming out of the coronavirus pandemic. The increase by which COLA will boost benefits in 2025 is to be announced this coming October. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) currently predicts benefits to rise by 2.5 percent.