The Social Security Administration (SSA) helps beneficiaries with Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) increases to maintain their purchasing power. Even if the Agency brings a boost every year, seniors seem to be losing buying power. That is why this extra money is essential, even if it is not enough to make up for the loss of purchasing power.
In 2025, the best COLA predictions come from The Senior Citizens League. They regularly make Cost-of-Living projections, and they end up being very accurate. Of course, there could be unexpected events that reduce or increase these figures for Social Security benefits; that is why it is always a good idea to take any predictions with a pinch of salt, despite the fact that they are the best ones.
2026 COLA Prediction for Social Security Released in June
According to The Senior Citizens League, the 2026 COLA prediction increases to 2.5%. This minor increase takes place as the Bureau of Labor Statistics challenges with collecting CPI data claims TSCL.
For your information, if you are not aware of the previous 2026 COLA increase, it was 2.4%. Therefore, there is just a 0.1% increase. However, there is a growing tendency, and it keeps going up as months pass.
Let’s compare the last three projections for the Social Security Cost-of-Living Adjustment in the United States. For March, it was 2.3%. Nevertheless, the April figure went up to 2.4%. In May, it continued increasing up to 2.5%.
This means that if your Social Security payment is worth $100, you will receive after the boost $102.5 in January 2026. Thus, a Social Security payment worth $1,000 will become $1,025. Hence, it is 25 dollars extra per month if what you receive from the Administration is a payment of $1,000 in 2025.
2026 COLA Prediction & Amounts for Social Security
Many seniors may think that if this COLA prediction becomes true, their increase will not be high enough. Anyway, it means receiving more money which is better than nothing or better than a reduction.
Possible amounts after a 2.5% COLA increase in 2026:
- Recipients with a payment worth $500 in 2025: the new amount would be $512.50
- Recipients with a payment worth $1,000 in 2025: the new amount would be $1,025.00
- Recipients with a payment worth $1,500 in 2025: the new amount would be $1,537.50
- Recipients with a payment worth $2,000 in 2025: the new amount would be $2,050.00
- Recipients with a payment worth $2,500 in 2025: the new amount would be $2,562.50
- Recipients with a payment worth $3,000 in 2025: the new amount would be $3,075.00
- Recipients with a payment worth $3,500 in 2025: the new amount would be $3,587.50
- Recipients with a payment worth $4,000 in 2025: the new amount would be $4,100.00
- Recipients with a payment worth $4,500 in 2025: the new amount would be $4,612.50
- Recipients with a payment worth $5,000 in 2025: the new amount would be $5,125.00
This 2.5% increase could be applied to payments from Social Security (take, for example, retirement, survivor, and Disability Insurance) or Supplemental Security Income.