{"id":882180,"date":"2026-10-14T16:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T16:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/882180\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T16:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T16:32:10","slug":"social-security-recipients-will-get-a-3-6-cola-increase-in-2027","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/882180\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Security recipients will get a 3.6% COLA increase in 2027"},"content":{"rendered":"

Social Security recipients will receive an annual cost-of-living adjustment<\/a> next year of 3.6%, one of the largest increases this decade. But advocates say it\u2019s still unlikely to go far enough for many struggling seniors.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the largest adjustment since 2022, and will amount to an additional $75.15 per month on average, according to the Senior Citizens League, an advocacy group for older Americans. <\/p>\n

Elevated inflation continues to bedevil the U.S. economy, with rising energy and gas prices sparked by wars in Iran and Ukraine as the primary culprits. Yet even without the added cost of gas, so-called core inflation \u2014 which excludes volatile energy and food prices \u2014 has remained stuck at about 2.5%, well above the Federal Reserve\u2019s 2% target. <\/p>\n

For senior citizens, who are the majority of Social Security retirement benefit recipients, next year\u2019s increase will be welcome, but it will still come up short given rising costs, said Shannon Benton, the league\u2019s executive director. <\/p>\n

\u201cSeniors have spent years watching their expenses outpacing their benefits,\u201d Benton said. \u201cThis provides a little breathing room but won\u2019t undo the damage of what we\u2019ve seen this decade.\u201d<\/p>\n

The league found in a survey that 89% of older Americans thought the cost-of-living adjustment that kicked in this year<\/a>, 2.8%, was inadequate given rising costs in the economy. About 44% of seniors draw all their income from Social Security, the survey found. <\/p>\n

The annual adjustment is typically calculated using inflation data from July, August and September. But it uses an obscure inflation index that advocates say doesn\u2019t accurately reflect seniors\u2019 spending priorities, which include more medical and prescription drug costs, as well as a greater likelihood that they will pay rent and generally higher home energy costs. <\/p>\n

Those categories have historically outpaced headline inflation, though the rate of medical-cost increases has slowed recently. One reform proposal would index the annual adjustment to more precisely reflect seniors\u2019 needs \u2014 but Benton said it is unlikely to be adopted until all of Social Security is overhauled.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey need Social Security benefits to cover the cost of living, and it\u2019s just not happening,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Social Security recipients will receive an annual cost-of-living adjustment next year of 3.6%, one of the largest increases…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":882181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[28],"class_list":["post-882180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=882180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/882181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=882180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=882180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=882180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}