Social Security Payment Schedule December 2026: Dates

December 2026 payment dates

December 2026 is the month with the most deposits of the year for two groups of beneficiaries, and the reason is the calendar, not a bonus. January 1, 2027 is a federal holiday and January 3, 2027 is a Sunday, so two January payments are pushed back into December. Here is the full month, based on the SSA 2026 payment calendar and the 2027 calendar.

Not sure of your group? Use the payment date calculator. The full 2026 schedule and the full 2027 schedule list every month.

The three Wednesday payments are on normal days

None of the three Wednesday dates in December 2026 falls on a holiday. Christmas Day is Friday, December 25, two days after the fourth-Wednesday payment on December 23, and the OPM federal holiday list shows no other December holiday. So if you are in a Wednesday group, you get exactly one Social Security deposit in December, on December 9, 16 or 23, and your next one is in January 2027.

The Wednesday dates for January 2027 are January 13, January 20 and January 27 (2027 calendar). Those January payments are the first ones at the 2027 cost-of-living rate.

Why December 31 is a payment day

SSA’s rule, stated in its payment date FAQ, is that when a payment date “falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal public holiday, benefits will be paid the business day before your due date.” Two January 2027 dates trigger this rule at once.

SSI, due January 1. New Year’s Day is a federal holiday. The SSA blog explains: “When the first day of the month falls on the weekend or a Federal holiday, you receive your SSI payment on the last business day before the first day of the month.” The last business day before Friday, January 1, 2027 is Thursday, December 31, 2026.

3rd-of-month Social Security, due January 3. January 3, 2027 is a Sunday. The business day before it is Friday, January 1, which is the holiday, so the payment moves back one more day to Thursday, December 31, 2026.

This happens every year for SSI because January 1 is always a holiday. It happens to the 3rd-of-month group only in years when January 3 lands on a weekend or on the observed holiday, which is why some years that group gets a December 31 payment and other years it does not.

What the December 31 payment is, and is not

The December 31 deposit is your January 2027 benefit. It is not an extra month of benefits. Here is how the calendar looks for the two affected groups:

If your rent or mortgage is drafted on the 1st or 3rd of January, the money to cover it arrives on December 31 and then nothing new arrives until February. The safest habit is to treat the December 31 deposit as January money and leave it untouched over the holiday.

The payment date calculator can confirm which of these rows applies to you.

The 2027 COLA and the December 31 SSI payment

The 2027 cost-of-living adjustment is announced in October 2026, after the September inflation figures are published; SSA posts it at its COLA page. It had not been announced when this article was written, and this article will be updated when it is.

What we can say now is when the new rate shows up, based on how SSA handled the 2026 COLA. SSA’s 2026 fact sheet stated: “The increase will begin with benefits that Social Security beneficiaries receive in January 2026. Increased SSI payments will begin with the December 31, 2025 payment.” The 2026 COLA was 2.8%, which raised the SSI federal payment standard from $967 to $994 a month for an individual and from $1,450 to $1,491 for a couple.

Applying the same pattern to this year:

• SSI recipients see the 2027 rate in the December 31, 2026 payment, because that payment is the January 2027 benefit.
• Social Security recipients in the 3rd-of-month group see the 2027 rate in the December 31 payment for the same reason.
• Wednesday groups see the 2027 rate on January 13, 20 or 27, 2027.
• The December 1, 3, 9, 16 and 23 payments are all still at the 2026 rate.

For the list of everything a COLA changes, read how the 2026 COLA changed benefits.

Medicare Part B and the December payment

Most people have their Medicare Part B premium deducted from their Social Security payment. The 2026 standard premium is $202.90 a month (CMS fact sheet), and that deduction applies to every December 2026 payment, including the December 31 payment for the 3rd-of-month group.

CMS usually announces the next year’s premium between late October and mid-November. The 2027 premium is deducted starting with the January 2027 payment, which for the 3rd-of-month group is the one paid on December 31. SSA mails a COLA notice in December that shows your new benefit amount and the new Part B deduction side by side. See the 2026 Part B premium and IRMAA article for how the premium and the income-related surcharge are set.

Which month each December payment covers

Social Security pays one month behind. The payment you receive on December 3, 9, 16 or 23 is your benefit for November 2026, and the December 31 payment for the 3rd-of-month group is the benefit for December 2026, paid on the January schedule. SSI is paid for the current month, so the December 1 payment is for December and the December 31 payment is for January.

This matters if a beneficiary dies. Social Security for the month of death is not payable, so if a beneficiary dies in December, the payment that arrives in January (or on December 31 for the 3rd-of-month group) must be returned. SSI is different: the SSI payment for the month of death is generally kept, but any SSI payment for a later month must be returned.

What to do if a December payment is late

1. Check which date applies to you. The most common December confusion is expecting a January payment in early January when it was paid December 31.
2. Wait three mailing days. The SSA calendar says: “If you don’t receive your payment on the expected date, please allow three additional mailing days before contacting Social Security.”
3. Ask your bank. Banks are open on December 31, 2026. Some post federal deposits early in the morning and some late in the day.
4. Log in to my Social Security. Your payment history and direct deposit details are there. If you changed banks recently, make sure SSA has the new account.
5. Call 1-800-772-1213 or visit a local office after the three mailing days have passed. Offices are closed Friday, December 25 and Friday, January 1.

December 2026 through February 2027 at a glance

All dates come from the 2026 and 2027 SSA calendars. For the month before, see the November 2026 schedule. For the month after, see the January 2027 schedule.

This article is for general information only and is not financial, tax, legal or insurance advice. Found an error? See our corrections policy.