Social Security recipients get a 2.8% cost-of-living boost in 2026, average of $56 per month
WASHINGTON (AP) — Social Security Cost of living growth will increase by 2.8% in 2026, meaning an average increase of more than $56 each month for retirees, agency officials said Friday.
The benefit increase for about 71 million Social Security recipients will go into effect in January. Increased payments to approximately 7.5 million people receiving Supplemental Security Income will begin on December 31.
Friday’s announcement was supposed to be made last week but was postponed for some reasons. federal government shutdown.
Cost of living adjustmentThe COLA, or COLA for retirees and disabled beneficiaries, is funded by payroll taxes collected from workers and their employers up to a certain annual salary, which is scheduled to increase from $176,100 in 2025 to $184,500 in 2026.
Received buyers 2.5% increase in cost of living in 2025 And 3.2% increase in social aid In 2024, after a historically large number 8.7% benefit increase It was brought with a record in 2023 Highest inflation in 40 years.
A smaller increase for 2026 reflects moderate inflation.
Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank Bisignano said Friday that the annual cost-of-living adjustment “is one way we can work to ensure that benefits reflect today’s economic realities and continue to provide a foundation of security.”
Emerson Sprick, director of retirement and labor policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, said in a statement that cost-of-living increases “will not solve all the financial challenges facing households or all of the program’s shortcomings.”
The latest COLA announcement comes as the Social Security Administration has been in nearly a year of turmoil. thousands of workers were laid off As part of the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce the size of the federal workforce. Trump administration officials also later made statements in which they retracted and expressed concerns about the future of the program.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in July that the Republican administration was committed to preserving Social Security, hours after saying in an interview that the new child savings program signed by President Donald Trump was “a backdoor to the privatization of Social Security.”
And in September, Bisignano was forced to walk back comments that the agency was considering raising the retirement age to shore up Social Security. “Raising the retirement age is not currently being considered by the Administration,” Bisignano said in an emailed statement to The Associated Press.
“I think everything has been taken into account and will be taken into account,” Bisignano said in a statement when asked if raising the retirement age was a possibility to preserve the solvency of the old-age program.
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 trustee report states that Social Security’s trust funds, which cover old-age and disability recipients, will not be able to pay full benefits starting in 2034. In this case, Social Security will only be able to pay 81% of benefits.
Social Security benefits were last revised nearly 40 years ago, when the federal government raised the eligibility age for the program from 65 to 67.
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