The Social Security Administration (SSA) has announced an adjustment to the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payment schedule for the month of December 2024. Because January 1, 2025, the usual date for payment of benefits of the month, which coincides with New Year’s Day, the SSA has decided to advance this payment to December 29, 2024.
This is already the second movement for SSI beneficiaries that has been carried out so far this month of December, because the payment for Sunday the 1st had to be advanced to November 29: this is due to the particularity of the calendar of the SSA that does not make payments on holidays or weekends.
COLA Increase in 2025: Implications for SSI Beneficiaries
January 2025 will mark a significant milestone for millions of Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries in the United States, thanks to the previously announced cost of living adjustment (COLA). This annual increase is intended to preserve the purchasing power of benefits against inflation.
The COLA is a percentage that is applied to Social Security and SSI benefits to offset the increased cost of living. This adjustment is calculated annually based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI-W). For the year 2025, a 2.5% COLA increase has been established for both Social Security and SSI. This amount is lower than the 3.2% applied for 2024, and the impressive 8.7% that was defined for 2023 (that was the last year of the pandemic, with very strong inflation).
The maximum SSI amounts for 2025
The increase affects not only SSI beneficiaries, but also retirees and disability insurance (SSDI) recipients, who receive their payments in sets on three dates each month. The SSI payment sent on December 31, 2024 will already include the 2.5% increase mentioned.
As of January, the maximum amount that qualifying people can claim is $967 for an individual, and $1,450 for a couple. For an essential person, the limit was set at $484. “In general, monthly amounts for the following year are determined by increasing the unrounded annual amounts for the current year by the COLA in effect for January of the following year. The new unrounded amounts are then divided by 12 and the resulting amounts are rounded down to the next lower multiple of $1,” the SSA explains.
