Retirees and disability insurance recipients can receive their Social Security payments on the same day. However, the payment amounts may be completely different for each recipient because it depends on different factors. The payment dates for SSDI and retirement benefits can be on the third day of the month, as long as it doesn’t fall on a holiday or on the weekend, and then three rounds of direct deposits and checks from the second Wednesday through the fourth Wednesday in April.
The Administration will deliver payments depending on when you started collecting Social Security retirement or disability insurance benefits. There is a clear distinction between those who started receiving benefits before May 1997 and those who did the same after that date. The upcoming April payments are for those who began getting benefits after April 30, 1997.
Retirement and disability payments from Social Security: eligibility
To be eligible for the past April 16 or the upcoming May 14 payment, you must have filed after April 30, 1997, and your birth date must be from the 1st of the month to the 10th. So, if you were born on any of the first ten days of the month, it is more than likely that this is your payday.
Another requirement is not to be on Supplemental Security Income. If you are on retirement or SSDI benefits, and you also get SSI benefits, your next payday will not be May 14 but May 2, 2025.
If you were born after the 10th, there are two other possible payment dates. Social Security has confirmed that there will be a new payday on April 16 and the last one will be sent on April 23, 2025.
Social Security maximum and average amounts for SSDI and retirement
The Administration has confirmed that the maximum retirement benefit at Full Retirement Age is $4,018. As a matter of fact, this will also be the maximum amount for SSDI benefits. However, very few workers can receive so much money from Social Security because they must have been high earners for many years.
The requirements are:
- To have worked for 35 years (difficult if a disability prevents you from working)
- to have worked in jobs that pay payroll taxes to Social Security
- to file at the required age
- to have earned the taxable maximum for the same number of years as the first condition above
On average, retirees can get about $1,980. That is actually a lot more than the average payment for disability insurance recipients. As of February 2025, the average disability insurance payment is $1,580.
All the April and May payments include the 2025 Cost-of-Living Adjustment. So, if compared to the average payments in 2024, they are about 2.5% higher this year. Remember that to get the April 16 payment your birthday must be from 11-20 and from 21-31 to get it on April 23, 2025.