Next Year's COLA Number Is Finally Out

The Social Security cost-of-living increase will go up by 2.8% in 2026, which translates to an average increase of more than $56 for retirees every month, agency officials said Friday. The benefits increase will go into effect for Social Security recipients beginning in January, the AP reports. Friday's announcement was meant to be made last week but was delayed by the federal government shutdown. The cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for retirees and disabled beneficiaries is financed by payroll taxes collected from workers and their employers, up to a certain annual salary, which is slated to increase to $184,500 in 2026, from $176,100 in 2025.

Recipients received a 2.5% cost-of-living boost in 2025 and a 3.2% increase in their benefits in 2024, after a historically large 8.7% benefit increase in 2023, brought on by record 40-year-high inflation. The smaller increase for 2026 reflects moderating inflation. Emerson Sprick, the Bipartisan Policy Center's director of retirement and labor policy, said in a statement that cost-of-living increases "can't solve all the financial challenges households face or all the shortcomings of the program."