Jul 8, 2026
For the second time in seven months, some Social Security recipients will be seeing double as they receive two checks instead of the usual one.
The unusual dispersal comes thanks to how the days of the week fall on the calendar. Since August begins on a Saturday this month—and the federal government is closed on Saturday—some recipients will receive a check at both the beginning and end of the month (but won’t receive one for August).
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Not everyone will receive the early benefits. These will only go to people who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disbursements. Those checks are given to older Americans who have little to no income and to people who are disabled.
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A little more than 7.3 million people receive SSI benefits. That’s roughly 10% of the total number of people who receive Social Security benefits.
A calendar quirk
SSI checks are typically sent on the first of the month. (Well, technically, they’re not sent at all, as the Social Security Administration (SSA) stopped mailing paper benefits checks last September, switching over exclusively to electronic payments.) And July won’t be the only month this year where SSI recipients will double down.
Recipients will get two checks in both October and December this year as well. Nov. 1 falls on a Sunday. Jan. 1 is a federal holiday.
Standard Social Security recipients will receive their benefits as usual in August. Those are distributed on the second, third or fourth Wednesday of the month, depending on the recipient’s birthday.
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Hoping for higher benefits
The maximum monthly SSI payment for 2026 is $994 for an individual and $1,491 for a couple. The average recipient, however, receives $737.
Those amounts are 2.8% higher than they were in 2025, but people who get SSI checks could see a bigger increase as we move into 2027. The Senior Citizen’s League is currently forecasting the 2027 cost of living adjustment (COLA) for social security and SSI recipients will be 3.8%. If that proves true, it will be an average increase in benefits of $77 per person.
While nearly 25 million older Americans receive all of their retirement income from Social Security, a big hurdle is on the near-term horizon. A report issued last month by the Social Security Administration warned that without Congressional action, the trust fund that pays Social Security benefits will begin depleting by the fourth quarter of 2032.
That doesn’t mean that Social Security benefits will go away entirely, but it raises several concerns and questions. According to the report, the fund would be able to pay 78% of scheduled benefits for the rest of 2032, and then 62% of scheduled benefits until 2100.
Possible solutions to that include raising the tax rate, lowering benefits, or changing eligibility requirements for benefits.
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Chris Morris is a veteran journalist with more than 35 years of experience at many of the internet's biggest news outlets. In addition to his activities as a writer, reporter and editor, Chris is also a frequent panel moderator and speaker at major conferences, including CES and South by Southwest.
