When will the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) be announced and how much will the increase be?
The COLA represents an increase in Social Security payments. We share with you the date on which it is announced how much they will increase in 2025.
Each year, the Social Security Administration calculates the cost-of-living adjustment or COLA to determine whether or not your monthly benefits will increase next year.
Generally speaking, the COLA is calculated based on inflation, and if there are changes, the following year’s payments increase for all beneficiaries, including retired workers and survivors and those receiving Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income.
How is COLA calculated?
The COLA is tied to the annual increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers or CPI-W.
The calculation takes into account data from the third quarter of the current year; that is, the CPI-W numbers for July, August and September. This is compared with data from the same period in the previous year. The difference between the two is the percentage by which Social Security payments will increase next year.
In 2024 year, the COLA was 3.2%. For the 2025 increase, there are predictions on how much the COLA could be, although the official announcement of the exact percentage has not yet been shared.
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When will the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) be announced?
The cost-of-living adjustment will be announced once the CPI-W data for July, August, and September are available for calculation. The official COLA for 2025 will be announced on Oct. 10, 2024.
This is the day on which the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes the Consumer Price Index report, which contains the latest data needed for the calculation. The government agency will publish the relevant information on Thursday, Oct. 10, at 8:30 AM ET.
The 2025 COLA will first apply to Social Security and Supplemental Security Income payments in January 2025.
Social Security COLA 2025: These are the predictions
According to the most recent estimate from The Senior Citizens League, one of the nation’s largest nonpartisan senior groups, Social Security’s cost-of-living adjustment for 2025 is likely to be 2.5% based on new government inflation data. This is slightly lower than August’s prediction of 2.57%.