Customer Services are Strained at the SSA. You Should Plan Around These Federal Holidays

Green sign hanging at the glass door of a shop with written in it "Closed for the holidays".

(Image credit: Getty Images)

It is not easy to get through to the Social Security Administration (SSA) on the phone; from workforce reductions, to the consolidation and closing of in-person hearing offices at the SSA, getting your questions answered can be a challenge. While there are better and worse times to call the SSA, holiday closures can make the days leading up to and right after a holiday even more difficult, as people try to resolve problems before the phones are unmanned and offices are closed.

Remember that on federal holidays, all non-essential federal government offices, as well as many financial institutions, are closed for business. Although these holidays are often observed throughout the whole country, they are not “national holidays.”

You can call the SSA at 1-800-772-1213 from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time, Monday through Friday. Wait times to speak to a representative are typically shorter in the morning, later in the week, and later in the month. Mondays are the busiest, and Fridays have shorter wait times, with the exception of the end of the day, when wait times steadily build to almost two hours by 5 p.m.

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If you want to review the average wait times for every weekday for every hour from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., visit the Contact Social Security By Phone webpage to see the full breakdown.

Outside business hours. You can call the SSA's automated telephone services to get recorded information and conduct some business 24 hours a day. Here are some tasks you can do with the automated service:

Request a benefit verification letter
Request a replacement Medicare Card
Ask for the status of a claim
Request a form SSA-1020 to apply for help with Medicare prescription drug costs
Ask for a form SSA-1099, Social Security Benefit Statement, to request a replacement tax summary

Upcoming federal holidays

Below is a list of all of the federally recognized holidays in 2025 and when they are observed:

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Remaining federal holidays in 2025
Holiday	Date of closure
New Year’s Day	Wednesday, January 1
Martin Luther King Jr. Day	Monday, January 20
Presidents’ Day	Monday, February 17
Memorial Day	Monday, May 26
Juneteenth National Independence Day	Thursday, June 19
Independence Day	Friday, July 4
Labor Day	Monday, September 1
Columbus Day / Indigenous Peoples’ Day	Monday, October 13
Veterans Day	Tuesday, November 11
Thanksgiving Day	Thursday, November 27
Christmas Day	Thursday, December 25

Holidays the federal government remains open

While there are 11 official federal holidays, there are many other significant cultural, religious, and commemorative dates that are observed across the country. While these holidays reflect America’s diversity and many people forgo work, school or regular activities, federal offices are open during these holidays.

This month, it's important to remember that federal offices are open on Good Friday and do not close the Monday after Easter Sunday.

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Non-federal holidays
Holiday	Observance	Header Cell - Column 2
Chinese New Year	Wednesday, Jan. 29	Row 0 - Cell 2
Ash Wednesday	Wednesday, March 5	Row 1 - Cell 2
Good Friday	Friday, April 18	Row 2 - Cell 2
Easter Sunday	Sunday, April 20	Row 3 - Cell 2

Donna joined Kiplinger as a personal finance writer in 2023. She spent more than a decade as the contributing editor of J.K.Lasser's Your Income Tax Guide and edited state specific legal treatises at ALM Media. She has shared her expertise as a guest on Bloomberg, CNN, Fox, NPR, CNBC and many other media outlets around the nation. She is a graduate of Brooklyn Law School and the University at Buffalo.