One of the most important aspects of Social Security is the program’s annual cost-of-living adjustments, or COLAs. There are many seniors who collect Social Security for decades. If benefits weren’t eligible for an inflation adjustments, retirees would be pretty much guaranteed to lose out on buying power over time.
Instead, Social Security benefits are eligible for a raise each year in line with inflation. When there’s an increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) from one year to the next during the third quarter of the year, Social Security benefits increase automatically. Congress does not have to vote in a raise like it used to decades ago.
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Because Social Security COLAs are based on CPI-W readings from July, August, and September, it’s impossible to nail down a COLA for the coming year in June. But experts can use existing inflation data to help guide their projections.
Following the release of May’s CPI-W in June, there’s a new estimate of what 2027’s Social Security COLA might be. But whether it’s good news is debatable.
What 2027’s Social Security COLA could look like
Following May’s CPI-W reading, the Senior Citizens League, an advocacy group, projected that 2027’s COLA could amount to 3.8%. If that number is correct, it would surpass 2026’s 2.8% COLA by a pretty wide margin. It could also provide significant relief for retirees on Social Security who may be struggling with this year’s more modest raise.
But a 3.8% COLA isn’t necessarily a win for seniors. If inflation is sustained enough to allow for a 3.8% raise in the new year, it will come at the cost of higher prices across a range of consumer categories.
In fact, therein lies the issue with Social Security COLAs. When they’re more generous, it’s because prices are higher. When they’re lower, it’s because prices haven’t increased as much.
COLAs typically don’t help seniors on Social Security get ahead financially. The best they can do is keep up with inflation. And they often fail to do that because of how they’re calculated.
The CPI-W is not a very accurate measure of the costs seniors face. Social Security recipients tend to spend a large share of their income on healthcare, which tends to grow faster than inflation overall. So even when COLAs are more generous, seniors can still fall behind.
The big reveal comes in October
The Social Security Administration should announce the official COLA in October. Until then, seniors can use the 3.8% COLA estimate as a guideline, understanding that it may change.
But all told, beneficiaries should have modest expectations. Even if next year’s COLA is more generous than this year’s, it may not do them a world of good. The sooner that’s recognized, the more proactive steps retirees can take to improve their finances on their own.