The Social Security Administration (SSA) will make the COLA announcement on October 15, 2025. Therefore, retirees may want to check how much their retirement benefits will increase in 2026. Thus, it is important to save this date to learn how much the Administration will give you after the Cost-of-Living Adjustment.
Bear in mind that the COLA increase announcement will be made on October 15, 2025. However, if you are currently receiving retirement benefits, you will need to wait for this annual boost until you receive a payment with this boost in January 2026. So, it is possible to learn how much benefits will increase, but it will not be possible to enjoy it until January.
Why does the Social Security Administration unveil the COLA on October 15, 2025?
For your information, the Administration uses the CPI-W for July, August, and September from this and the previous year. It is on October 15, 2025, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics unveils the CPI-W for September.
So, it is not until then that Social Security can calculate the COLA figure for 2026. The good news is that the COLA seems to be positive for retirees because it is more than likely that it brings a boost for all retirees.
On the contrary, this boost may not be as high as many retirees wished it were. Bear in mind that inflation can reduce your buying power. Many workers do not take into account inflation, and it is one of the causes for being able to buy fewer things after a decade or two on retirement benefits in the United States.
Anyway, it is obvious that it is better to receive an increase than a reduction. Let’s not forget that COLAs have never brought a reduction to retirees, but it could be possible. So, it is better to get some extra money than less money. In one year, the boost seems higher than if you just check the amount for a month.
What is the latest 2026 COLA prediction?
According to the Senior Citizens League, the latest 2026 COLA prediction for Social Security rises to 2.6%. As a matter of fact, this boost is 0.1% higher than the prediction made in the previous month.
Thus, it keeps increasing since the first prediction was made in January 2026. Actually, the forecast made on January 15, 2025, was just 2.1%. It means the inflation has been gradually increasing and affecting COLA.
Nevertheless, it has done so very slowly, and so far, it seems to be a COLA increase, which is very similar to the 2025 COLA increase, which was just 2.5%. Its evolution has been this:
- January 15: 2.1%
- February 12: 2.3%
- March 12: 2.2%
- April 10: 2.3%
- May 13: 2.4%
- June 11: 2.5%
- July 15: 2.6%
For your information, Social Security will apply the new 2026 COLA increase to the payments retirees receive in January 2026. If you are on SSDI and SSI, you will also get this increase.
Sources:
- https://www.bls.gov/schedule/2025/10_sched.htm
- https://seniorsleague.org/assets/TSCL-COLA-Projection-7.25.pdf
