Millions of Social Security recipients will be issued their monthly payment this week.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) distributes benefits each month to retired Americans, people with disabilities, and surviving family members of deceased workers. With multiple types of payments and around 70 million recipients, payments are not issued to everyone on the same date.
When you receive your benefits depends on certain factors like your birth date and the type of benefit you collect. This week beginning November 18, beneficiaries whose birthdays fall between the 11th and 20th of any month will receive their payment on Wednesday, November 20.
This excludes anyone who collects Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or have been getting retirement benefits since before May 1997. If you have been claiming since before May 1997 or you also claim SSI, you should have been paid at the beginning of the month.
Those who do not receive benefits on their expected date should wait three mailing days before contacting the SSA.
In November 2024, the maximum Social Security benefits for retirees is $4,873. However, not everyone gets the maximum amount, with how much you get dependent on factors like what age you retired and how much you earned—specifically the average of the highest paid 35 years throughout your working life.
How much you can get increases with how late in life you decide to begin collecting. That number is for those who opted to start getting their benefits at age 70. If you retire at the full retirement age, which is 66 for those born between 1943 to 1954, the highest amount you can claim is $3,822.
If instead a retiree opts to start receiving their Social Security checks at the earliest possible age of 62, their maximum monthly benefit would be $2,710.
Averages for how much a retiree gets are lower than these maximum amounts. In September 2024, the average sum of retirement benefits distributed was $1,873.08.
When you reach 62 years of age, you can apply for Social Security retirement benefits online through the SSA website, by phone, or in person at a local Social Security office. The application process requires you to provide personal information, work history, and documentation to verify your identity and eligibility.
If you decide you wish to keep working while also claiming your retirement benefits, beneficiaries who are younger than full retirement age and earn more than the yearly earnings limit may see their benefits temporarily reduced.
In 2024, the earnings limit is set at $22,320. If you exceed this amount, $1 will be deducted from your benefits for every $2 earned above the limit. Once you reach full retirement age, there is no earnings limit, and your benefits will not be reduced no matter how much you earn.
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