{"id":10533,"date":"2025-10-29T15:17:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T19:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=10533"},"modified":"2025-10-29T15:19:31","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T19:19:31","slug":"social-security-benefits-will-rise-a-moderate-2-8-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=10533","title":{"rendered":"Social Security benefits will rise a moderate 2.8% in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n

The Social Security Administration announced a 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 2026. That\u2019s up a notch from 2.5% this year but in line with the 2.6% average over the past two decades.<\/p>\n

Starting in January, the increase will add an average of $56 per month for 75 million retired seniors and disabled workers who have struggled with higher prices this year. But droves of seniors will still lag behind when it comes to making ends meet in retirement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Social Security COLA is especially important this year, with inflation on so many people’s minds,\u201d Kathleen Romig, director of Social Security and disability policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, told Yahoo Finance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe annual cost-of-living adjustments are most retirees’ only source of retirement income, not subject to inflation risk. That inflation protection is really important, because Social Security is the biggest source of income for most retirees.\u201d<\/p>\n

The COLA is calculated using the\u00a0Consumer Price Index<\/a>\u00a0for urban workers, or CPI-W, which weights the costs of goods and services paid by the urban segment of the population more than other expense categories. It averages data for July, August, and September and then compares that figure with the same data from last year.<\/p>\n