Social Security monthly benefits will increase 2.8% in 2026 [View all]

[Goonch]

Social Security recipients will receive a 2.8% boost in their monthly benefits in 2026, the Social Security Administration announced Friday. However, many seniors say the annual adjustments haven’t been enough to cover their ever-rising expenses.

The increase for 2026 is larger than the 2.5% cost-of-living-adjustment that beneficiaries received for this year, but far smaller than the ones for the few years before that, when inflation was running rampant.

Monthly payments for retired workers will rise by about $56 to an estimated average of $2,071 starting in January, the agency said. Nearly 71 million senior citizens, people with disabilities and others receive Social Security benefits.

(A total of 75 million Americans receive either Social Security or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits from the agency. Some receive both.)

The annual adjustment, known as a COLA, is based on an inflation metric from the third quarter of the year. Inflation has moderated after being at around a four-decade high in 2022, which resulted in an 8.7% adjustment for 2023.

A related metric, the Consumer Price Index, rose 3% in September compared with a year ago, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Friday.

The COLA increase was scheduled to be announced last week but was delayed by the federal government shutdown.

A good chunk of beneficiaries’ COLA for 2026 will likely be erased by an increase in Medicare Part B premiums, which is expected to be released next month. The monthly premium for 2026 is forecast to jump to more than $206, up from $185 this year, according to Medicare’s most recent trustees report. That would be about twice the increase for 2025.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/24/politics/social-security-cola-increase-2026