SSA retires its 1990 SSI rental subsidy ruling
The Social Security Administration rescinded a 1990 ruling on how rent below market value counts for SSI. A 2024 rule already applies the same policy everywhere, so nothing changes for recipients.
Money & Benefits · Agency
Social Security Administration
The Social Security Administration pays retirement, disability and survivor benefits to about 70 million people and administers Supplemental Security Income, the needs-based payment for people who are aged, blind or disabled with little income. It is also the agency that assigns Social Security numbers and keeps the earnings records that benefits are calculated from.
Two of its publications drive this desk. The annual payment calendar sets the day each benefit arrives: SSI on the first of the month, benefits for people who started before May 1997 on the third, and everyone else on a Wednesday chosen by birth date, with payments moved earlier when a date falls on a weekend or holiday. The cost-of-living adjustment, announced in October from the July to September consumer price index for urban wage earners, raises benefits from the following January and is published by the Office of the Chief Actuary with the full series back to 1975.
FactFiled's payment schedule tracker, COLA tracker and the explainers on how the schedule and the adjustment work are built from those two documents. The agency's press releases, fact sheets and the my Social Security account are linked from each page; the figures here are the agency's.
Trackers
Social Security COLA 2027 trackerVerified Sep 12 · on-event
Social Security payment schedule 2026 and 2027: SSI and retirement pay datesVerified Sep 6 · monthly
VA disability pay chart 2027, due after the COLA, and 2026 ratesVerified Sep 5 · on-event
Notices and filings
SSR 26-2p: how Social Security judges disability for young adults
A Social Security ruling that applies from October 1, 2026 sets out how SSA documents and evaluates disability for people aged 18 to about 25, from IEPs and school records to job placements, the age-18 SSI review and payments that continue during a program. It replaces SSR 11-2p.
Medicare phone number, and who to call for what
One number covers claims, coverage and complaints, but not signing up. Which office answers which question, the hours, and what to have in front of you before you call.
When Social Security pays in October 2026
Six payment dates this month, two of them SSI, and a Saturday that moves the 3rd-of-the-month group to Friday. Every date from the Social Security Administration’s 2026 calendar, plus November for planning.
How the Social Security COLA is calculated
One formula in the Social Security Act, three months of price data, and a rounding rule decide the raise. Here it is worked through with the real numbers.
How the Social Security payment schedule works
Your payment date depends on your birthday, or on when you started benefits. Here is the rule, the exceptions, and what to do when the money is not there.