Experts forecast a higher adjustment for next year as inflation has yet to cool.
Key Facts
The SSA’s cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, represents the annual increase to monthly Social Security payments the SSA calculates based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly consumer price index, which measures the monthly change to inflation.
The average retired worker’s benefit will increase by about $56 to $2,064 from $2,008 with the 2.8% COLA, above projections from the Senior Citizens League, a nonpartisan advocacy group.
Other payments affected by the COLA include Social Security Disability Insurance, Supplemental Security Income, Medicare and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Independent Social Security analyst Mary Johnson told CNBC it was likely the adjustment would be 2.8% once September’s inflation data was accounted for, noting a 2.7% adjustment would be the result of “virtually no inflation growth at all” during the month.
