Social Security recipients get a 2.8% cost-of-living boost in 2026,
average of $56 per month
[October 25, 2025]
By FATIMA HUSSEIN
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Social Security Administration's annual
cost-of-living adjustment will go up by 2.8% in 2026, translating to an
average increase of more than $56 for retirees every month, agency
officials said Friday.
The benefits increase for nearly 71 million Social Security recipients
will go into effect beginning in January. And increased payments to
nearly 7.5 million people receiving Supplemental Security Income will
begin on Dec. 31.
Friday’s announcement was meant to be made last week but was delayed
because of 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. The agency
will notify recipients of their new benefit amount by mail in early
December.
Some seniors say the increase isn't enough
Some seniors say the cost-of-living adjustment won't help much in their
ability to pay for their daily expenses. Linda Deas, an 80-year-old
Florence, South Carolina, resident said "it does not match the
affordability crisis we are having right now.”
Deas, a retired information systems network operations specialist, moved
to South Carolina from New York in 2022 to be closer to family. She says
her monthly rent has increased by $400 in the past two years.
She listed other items that have become more expensive for her in the
past two years, including auto insurance and food. "If you have been
into the supermarkets lately you will notice how prices are going up,
not down,” she said.
Deas is not alone in feeling that costs are getting out of control.
Polling from the AARP shows that older Americans are increasingly
struggling to keep up in today’s economy. The poll states that only 22%
of Americans over age 50 agree that a COLA of right around 3% for Social
Security recipients is enough to keep up with rising prices, while 77%
disagree. That sentiment is consistent across political party
affiliations, according to the AARP.
In Deas' case, the MIT Living Wage Calculator estimates that an adult
living alone in Florence, South Carolina, would spend per year $10,184
for housing, $3,053 for medical expenses and $3,839 for food.
AARP CEO Myechia Minter-Jordan said the COLA is “a lifeline of
independence and dignity, for tens of millions of older Americans,” but
even with the annual inflation-gauged boost in income, “older adults
still face challenges covering basic expenses.”
Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank Bisignano said in a
statement Friday that the annual cost-of-living adjustment “is one way
we are working to make sure benefits reflect today’s economic realities
and continue to provide a foundation of security.”
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.”
The agency has been in turmoil in recent months
The latest COLA announcement comes as the Social Security Administration
has been navigating almost a year of turmoil, including the termination
of thousands of workers as part of the Trump administration's efforts to
shrink the size of the federal workforce. Trump administration officials
have also made statements they later walked back that raised concerns
about the future of the program.
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The Social Security Administration's main campus is seen in
Woodlawn, Md., Jan. 11, 2013. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
 Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
said in July that the Republican administration was committed to
protecting Social Security hours after he said in an interview that
a new children’s savings program President Donald Trump signed into
law “is a back door for privatizing Social Security.”
And in September, Bisignano had to walk back comments that the
agency is considering raising the retirement age to shore up Social
Security. “Raising the retirement age is not under consideration at
this time by the Administration,” Bisignano said at the time in an
e-mailed statement to The Associated Press.
“I think everything’s being considered, will be considered,”
Bisignano said in the statement when asked whether raising the
retirement age was a possibility to maintain the old age program’s
solvency.
Efforts to boost benefits for seniors
In addition, the Social Security Administration faces a looming
bankruptcy date if it is not addressed by Congress. The June 2025
Social Security and Medicare trustees’ report states that Social
Security’s trust funds, which cover old age and disability
recipients, will be unable to pay full benefits beginning in 2034.
Then, Social Security would only be able to pay 81% of benefits.
Social Security benefits were last reformed roughly 40 years ago,
when the federal government raised the eligibility age for the
program from 65 to 67.
While a permanent solution for shoring up the benefits program has
not been passed into law, both the Trump and Biden administrations
have recently signed into law new benefits for retirees, which are
expected to boost their finances.
The Trump administration, as part of Republicans’ tax and spending
bill, gave tax relief to many seniors through a temporary tax
deduction for seniors aged 65 and over, which applies to all income
— not just Social Security. However, those who won’t be able to
claim the deduction include the lowest-income seniors who already
don’t pay taxes on Social Security, those who choose to claim their
benefits before they reach age 65 and those above a defined income
threshold.
Additionally, former President Joe Biden in 2024 repealed two
federal policies — the Windfall Elimination Provision and the
Government Pension Offset — that previously limited Social Security
payouts for roughly 2.8 million people, including largely former
public workers.
These measures have accelerated the insolvency of the old-age
benefits program.
Sprick at the Bipartisan Policy Center said “there have been
longstanding questions about whether benefits are adequate for
low-income seniors, which should inspire urgency among policymakers
to work toward broader reforms instead of ignoring Social Security’s
long-term solvency."
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