Social Security COLA: 3.6 % for 2027, and how it is computed
Enter a monthly benefit and the year it started: the calculator applies each COLA the SSA has granted since, up to the one paid from January 2027.
Benefit from January 2027
$2,105.57
11 cost-of-living adjustments since January 2016: +40.4 % in all.
| Benefit growth | +40.4 % |
| CPI-U, December 2015 to September 2026 | +42.5 % |
| 2027 COLA | 3.6 % |
Assumes no other change to your benefit (Medicare premium, earnings test, recomputation).
| Paid from | COLA | Benefit |
|---|---|---|
| January 2017 | 0.3 % | $1,504.50 |
| January 2018 | 2.0 % | $1,534.59 |
| January 2019 | 2.8 % | $1,577.56 |
| January 2020 | 1.6 % | $1,602.80 |
| January 2021 | 1.3 % | $1,623.64 |
| January 2022 | 5.9 % | $1,719.43 |
| January 2023 | 8.7 % | $1,869.02 |
| January 2024 | 3.2 % | $1,928.83 |
| January 2025 | 2.5 % | $1,977.05 |
| January 2026 | 2.8 % | $2,032.41 |
| January 2027 | 3.6 % | $2,105.57 |
Prepared by Radif Partners · How the figures are built · BLS indexes through September 2026
Social Security benefits rise 3.6 % for 2027. The Social Security Administration announced the cost-of-living adjustment on October 14, 2026: it applies to December 2026 benefits, paid from January 2027, for nearly 72 million beneficiaries, and to SSI payments for about 7.3 million people from December 31, 2026. The average retirement benefit goes up by about $75 a month. The figure follows a formula set by law: the average CPI-W of July, August and September 2026, 328.746, against the same average for 2025, 317.265, an increase of 3.6 % once rounded to a tenth of a percent. The COLA paid in 2026 was 2.8 %. The CPI-W is the index for urban wage earners and clerical workers, not the CPI-U of the headlines, and its 12-month change to September 2026 was 3.9 %. Medicare premiums and the other amounts for 2027 are set separately and are to come.
The formula, step by step
The Social Security Act ties the automatic adjustment to the CPI-W published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (42 U.S.C. 415(i)). The SSA takes the CPI-W of July, August and September of the current year, averages them and rounds to three decimals. It compares that average with the same third-quarter average of the last year in which a COLA took effect. The percentage increase, rounded to the nearest tenth of one percent, is the COLA. If there is no increase, or if the rounded increase is zero, there is no COLA that year.
| CPI-W | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| July | 316.349 | 327.104 |
| August | 317.306 | 328.481 |
| September | 318.139 | 330.654 |
| Third-quarter average | 317.265 | 328.746 |
The same computation a year earlier compared 317.265 for the third quarter of 2025 with 308.729 for 2024 and gave the 2.8 % paid since January 2026. The September CPI-W comes out in mid-October, which is why the SSA announces the COLA the same day as the September CPI: in 2026, on October 14, 2026.
When the COLA reaches your account
The adjustment applies to the benefit for December, which Social Security pays in January. SSI payments for January are made at the end of December when January 1 falls on a holiday, which is why the higher SSI payment arrives on December 31, 2026. The SSA sends each beneficiary a COLA notice with the new amount and any deductions; people with a personal my Social Security account can see it online from late November, if they enrolled in paperless notices by November 18, and the others receive it by mail in December.
What your benefit became through the COLAs
Benefit from January 2027
$2,364.63
| Benefit growth | +31.4 % |
| CPI-U, December 2019 to September 2026 | +31.1 % |
| 2027 COLA | 3.6 % |
Your exact new amount is on that notice, not in a calculator. The COLA is applied by the SSA to your benefit as the law defines it, and the Medicare Part B premium, usually withheld from the same payment, changes on its own schedule. The 2027 premium is to come: the SSA says Medicare information for 2027 will be available on medicare.gov.
Every COLA since 2000
| Year it took effect | COLA |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 3.6 % |
| 2025 | 2.8 % |
| 2024 | 2.5 % |
| 2023 | 3.2 % |
| 2022 | 8.7 % |
| 2021 | 5.9 % |
| 2020 | 1.3 % |
| 2019 | 1.6 % |
| 2018 | 2.8 % |
| 2017 | 2 % |
| 2016 | 0.3 % |
| 2015 | 0 % |
| 2014 | 1.7 % |
| 2013 | 1.5 % |
| 2012 | 1.7 % |
| 2011 | 3.6 % |
| 2010 | 0 % |
| 2009 | 0 % |
| 2008 | 5.8 % |
| 2007 | 2.3 % |
| 2006 | 3.3 % |
| 2005 | 4.1 % |
| 2004 | 2.7 % |
| 2003 | 2.1 % |
| 2002 | 1.4 % |
| 2001 | 2.6 % |
| 2000 | 3.5 % |
Since the third-quarter rule began in 1984, the largest COLA was 8.7 % in 2022, after the price surge of 2021 and 2022. There was none in 2009, 2010, 2015: in each of those years the third-quarter CPI-W did not exceed the last base. The 1999 COLA was first determined at 2.4 % and later made 2.5 % by Public Law 106-554. Before 1983, COLAs took effect in June and compared other quarters; the full table since 1975 is on the SSA website.
Does the COLA keep up with prices?
A benefit that started in January 2016 has received every COLA since, a total increase of 40.4 % by January 2027. Over roughly the same period, from December 2015 to September 2026, the CPI-U rose 42.5 %. The two do not match exactly, for three reasons: the COLA uses the CPI-W, which weighs gasoline and transportation more and retirees' spending less; it measures the change only once a year, from third quarter to third quarter; and it reaches the account months after the prices moved. Retirees who spend more on medical care or rent than the average wage earner can feel that their inflation runs faster than their COLA.
The comparison of the CPI-U, CPI-W and chained CPI shows how far the three national indexes drift apart on the same amount. The cost-of-living adjustment page applies the 3.6 % or the CPI-U of your area to any pay or benefit.
What the COLA does not change
The COLA raises the benefits and SSI payments the law ties to it, but it is not the only Social Security number that changes each autumn. The maximum taxable earnings, the earnings test limits, the substantial gainful activity threshold and the Medicare premiums all have their own rules. Their 2027 values are announced separately; this site does not repeat them until it has read them on the official source. If a news article quotes a 2027 premium or limit, check it against the SSA fact sheet or medicare.gov before relying on it.
The COLA also does not depend on your own expenses or your city. It is one national percentage, the same for a retiree in Honolulu as in Houston, even though prices in those areas did not rise at the same speed. The CPI by city page shows how far apart local inflation ran over the same months.