The Cost of Living Adjustment for 2026 will be 2.8%, a few ticks higher than the 2025 COLA, Social Security Administration officials announced Friday.
The long-awaited COLA announcement sets the rate of increase for Social Security beneficiaries, but also for military retirees and people receiving veterans benefits. The increase goes into effect in January.
The government shutdown delayed the announcement by nine days.
Nearly 71 million people receive Social Security benefits, officials said, estimating that on average, the monthly benefit will increase by $56.
As an example, a military retiree who receives $2,500 in retired pay will see a COLA increase of about $70 a month.
For a veteran receiving $1,500 per month in benefits, the increase would be about $42 in 2026.
In 2024, Congress passed legislation that ties increases in veterans’ benefits to the rate of Social Security increases. The cost-of-living increase applies to disability compensation, clothing allowances and dependency and indemnity benefits, as well as some other VA assistance programs.
The COLA is designed to make sure benefits keep pace with inflation. The calculation is based on the Consumer Price Index, which tracks the cost of a wide range of items and calculates inflation and changes in the cost of living.
The 2025 COLA, at 2.5%, was the lowest increase since before the COVID-19 pandemic. The COLA increases were 3.2% in 2023, 8.7% in 2022 and 5.9% in 2021.
In 2020, the increase was 1.6%.
Social Security officials will begin notifying individuals about their new benefit amount by mail starting in early December.
Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book “A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families.” She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.
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