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Next Social Security payments scheduled for October 21

The Social Security Administration's payment calendar schedules another round of October benefits for Wednesday, October 21.

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Close-up of U.S. Treasury checks with part of a Social Security card along the bottom edge.
A cropped photograph of U.S. Treasury checks and part of a Social Security card illustrates benefits payments; it does not document payments scheduled for October 21.

Millions of Americans are due to receive another round of Social Security benefits on Wednesday, October 21, under the Social Security Administration's official payment calendar.

Birthday-based payment dates generally apply to beneficiaries who started receiving Social Security after April 1997 and do not receive Supplemental Security Income. That condition determines which recipients use the birthday schedule.

Under that schedule, people born on the 1st through the 10th are paid on the second Wednesday. Birthdays from the 11th through the 20th correspond to the third Wednesday, while those from the 21st through the 31st correspond to the fourth Wednesday.

The maximum retirement benefit of $5,181 a month in 2026 applies to someone who earned the taxable maximum every year from age 22 and retires at 70. With the same earnings history, the maximum is $4,152 at full retirement age and $2,969 at 62.

Payments arriving October 21 still reflect the 2026 cost-of-living adjustment, rather than the newly announced increase for 2027.