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By Aliss Higham
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Millions of Americans are set to receive their Social Security checks this week.
Why It Matters
About 70 million people depend on the Social Security Administration (SSA) for monthly income through retirement, survivor, spousal or disability benefits. Given the program’s huge scale, the SSA issues payments in several rounds each month rather than all at once.
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What To Know
This week payments will be made to those with a birthday between the 11th and 20th of the month on Wednesday, November 19.
Following this, there will be one more payment date this month on Wednesday, November 26, for those with birthdays between the 21st and 31st.
If a payment doesn’t arrive on its scheduled date, the SSA advises waiting three business days before reaching out for assistance. Weekends and federal holidays are not counted as business days.
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How Much Is Social Security?
Benefit levels are based on a person’s lifetime income and how many years they paid into the system through payroll taxes. As of July, retirees receive an average of $2,006.69 per month. The highest possible payment varies by retirement age: up to $2,831 for someone who claims at 62, $4,018 at 67, and as much as $5,108 for those who wait until 70.
But there will be an overall boost to benefits starting soon thanks to the annual Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA).
Starting in 2026, Social Security payments across all SSA programs will rise under the annual cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA. The agency announced in October that beneficiaries will receive a 2.8 percent increase next year.
The COLA is determined using the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), which tracks inflation based on the spending habits of younger, urban workers rather than retirees. Since 1975, the SSA has used CPI-W data from the third quarter - July through September - to set annual adjustments so benefits better reflect increases in the cost of essentials like housing, food, and healthcare.
"Social Security is a promise kept, and the annual cost-of-living adjustment is one way we are working to make sure benefits reflect today’s economic realities and continue to provide a foundation of security," SSA Commissioner Frank J. Bisignano said in a statement when the COLA adjustment was confirmed. "The cost-of-living adjustment is a vital part of how Social Security delivers on its mission.”
Some Democratic lawmakers are looking to change this however, with a bill recently introduced in Congress that would switch the inflation measurement to the CPI-E, which tracks the expenses and spending of older Americans.
The 2026 COLA covers all Social Security programs—including retirement, spousal, survivor, and Supplemental Security Income (SSI)—with the higher payments taking effect in January.
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