To handle a Social Security change of address, update your record directly with the Social Security Administration through your my Social Security account online, by calling 1-800-772-1213, or by visiting a local field office. There is no dedicated address change form. Keeping the address current matters even if your benefits arrive by direct deposit, because the SSA still mails your annual SSA-1099 tax statement and any notices about changes to your benefits.1Social Security Administration. How Can I Change My Address or Direct Deposit Information for My Social Security Benefits or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Payments
One boundary to know up front: the online method works only if you are already receiving benefits. If you have applied but payments have not started, or you have not applied at all, you need to use the phone or an in-person appointment instead.2Social Security Administration. Update Contact Information
Updating Your Address Online
Sign in to your personal my Social Security account at ssa.gov. You will need a Login.gov or ID.me credential to get in.3Social Security Administration. Go Digital! Create Your Personal my Social Security Account Today Once inside, click the “My Profile” tab near the top of the page, select “Contact,” and enter the new address. You can choose whether the change takes effect immediately or on a future date, which is useful when you have not moved yet but want mail redirected starting on a specific day. Review and submit.1Social Security Administration. How Can I Change My Address or Direct Deposit Information for My Social Security Benefits or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Payments
By Phone or In Person
The main SSA line is 1-800-772-1213, open 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time, Monday through Friday. Wait times are typically shorter earlier in the morning, later in the week, and toward the end of the month.4Social Security Administration. Contact Social Security By Phone If you are deaf or hard of hearing, the TTY number is 1-800-325-0778, staffed 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.5Social Security Administration. Accessibility Support Have your Social Security number ready.
You can also handle the change at a local field office. Since January 2025, the SSA generally requires an appointment for in-person service, though offices will not turn away vulnerable populations, military personnel, people with terminal illnesses, or anyone with a situation needing immediate attention.6Social Security Administration. Changes to Accessing Our In-Person Services
A representative may occasionally ask you to complete Form SSA-795, a general-purpose sworn statement form used to document miscellaneous changes to a file. It is not an address change form and you only fill it out if an SSA employee specifically requests it.7Social Security Administration. Form SSA-795 – Statement of Claimant or Other Person
SSI Recipients: The 10-Day Reporting Rule
If you receive Supplemental Security Income, federal regulations require you to report any change to both your mailing address and the address where you physically live.8eCFR. 20 CFR 416.708 – What You Must Report The deadline is tight. You must report the change no later than 10 days after the end of the month in which you moved.9Social Security Administration. Understanding Supplemental Security Income Reporting Responsibilities
Missing that window carries real consequences. The SSA can reduce your SSI payment by $25 to $100 each time you fail to report a change or report it late. If the agency determines you knowingly withheld the information, the penalties escalate: a first sanction withholds payments for six months, a second offense triggers a twelve-month withholding, and a third means twenty-four months without payments.9Social Security Administration. Understanding Supplemental Security Income Reporting Responsibilities
Retirement, disability, and survivor beneficiaries who do not receive SSI have no equivalent penalty. Keeping the address current still matters for mail and tax documents, but no fixed reporting clock applies.
How a Move Can Change an SSI Payment
For SSI, the address change is not just paperwork. Where you live and who you live with can directly change how much you receive. The maximum federal SSI payment in 2026 is $994 for an individual and $1,491 for a couple, but your actual amount depends on your living arrangements.10Social Security Administration. How Much You Could Get From SSI
If you move into someone else’s household and that person covers all of your shelter costs, the SSA can cut your payment by one-third under the “one-third reduction” rule. As of late 2024, the SSA no longer counts the value of food someone provides you as in-kind income, so only shelter expenses trigger the reduction. The rule does not apply if you pay your fair share of the household’s shelter costs.11Social Security Administration. SSI Spotlight on One Third Reduction Provision
Moving to a different state can also shift your total. The federal SSI amount is the same nationwide, but many states add their own supplement, and those vary. A move from a state with a generous supplement to one with a small or nonexistent one can mean a noticeable drop in monthly income. The reverse is also true.
What Happens If SSA Mail Bounces Back
When the U.S. Postal Service returns SSA mail as undeliverable, the agency treats it as a possible sign that something has changed: a move, an address error, or an event affecting eligibility.12Social Security Administration. GN 02605.055 Title II Undeliverable Mail – Change of Address
For SSI recipients, this escalates fast. If the SSA cannot locate you and confirm your eligibility, it can suspend your payments under a “whereabouts unknown” code, which is triggered automatically when the U.S. Treasury returns a check for an address-related reason.13Social Security Administration. Program Operations Manual System – Whereabouts Unknown (S06) Restarting payments after a suspension means contacting the SSA to verify your identity and current address, which adds weeks of delay on top of the payments you already missed.
What Updates Automatically and What Does Not
When you update your address with the SSA, the change flows through to Medicare. You do not need to contact Medicare separately.14Medicare.gov. How Do I Change My Address With Medicare The reverse is not true: changing your address only through Medicare will not update the SSA. Update through the SSA to cover both.
Filing a change of address with the U.S. Postal Service also does not update your SSA record. USPS is explicit that a mail forwarding order only redirects your physical mail and does not notify government agencies, and forwarding expires after a set period.15USPS. Standard Forward Mail
The IRS is another agency that does not get your new address from the SSA. To update the IRS, file Form 8822 separately.16IRS. Topic No. 157, Change Your Address – How to Notify the IRS This matters around tax season, because your SSA-1099 is mailed to whatever address the SSA has on file. An outdated address can mean the form does not reach you in time to file.
If You Are a Representative Payee
When someone else manages your benefits as a representative payee, that payee is responsible for reporting your address change to the SSA. A representative payee must report any change in the beneficiary’s circumstances that could affect eligibility, including a move, a change in living arrangements, or a change in the number of people in the household.17Social Security Administration. Understanding Supplemental Security Income Representative Payee Program
A power of attorney does not give someone authority to act as a representative payee. Only a person formally appointed by the SSA can handle these updates on a beneficiary’s behalf. Holding POA for a family member does not, by itself, let you change their SSA address.17Social Security Administration. Understanding Supplemental Security Income Representative Payee Program
Moving Outside the United States
If you move abroad, retirement or disability benefits generally continue in most countries, with exceptions. Treasury regulations prohibit sending payments to anyone living in Cuba or North Korea. The SSA separately restricts payments to beneficiaries in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan, because the agency cannot ensure reliable check distribution or access vital records in those countries.18Social Security Administration. Payments to Individuals in Barred and SSA-Restricted Countries
SSI works differently. It is generally not payable outside the United States, so moving abroad stops those payments entirely regardless of destination. If you plan an international move and receive any form of Social Security benefit, contact the SSA before you leave to confirm how the move affects your payments and what to report.