In this article 12 sections
- What is the Social Security COLA for 2027?
- How the COLA is calculated
- When the 2027 COLA shows up in your check
- Social Security COLA history: recent years
- What six COLAs did to a $2,000 benefit
- Worked example: what 3.6% adds to one check
- Medicare Part B and the 2027 COLA
- Will the COLA make more of your benefit taxable?
- Other Social Security changes for 2027
- Common COLA mistakes
- About this guide
- Sources and check dates
Key points
- Social Security benefits rise 3.6% for 2027. The Social Security Administration (SSA) announced the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) on October 14, 2026. It starts with the December 2026 benefit, which most people receive in January 2027.
- SSI payments rise 3.6% too. The January 2027 SSI payment arrives on December 31, 2026, the same day as the raised payment for people normally paid on the 3rd.
- The 3.6% is the rise in a consumer price index, the CPI-W, from its July to September 2025 average (317.265) to its July to September 2026 average (328.746), rounded to a tenth of a percent.
- SSA estimates the average retired worker’s check goes from $2,095 to $2,170. The 2027 Medicare Part B premium, usually deducted from the check if you have Part B, had not been published on October 27, 2026, so the raise after Medicare is not known yet.
A COLA is the yearly increase that keeps Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) in step with prices. The law sets the formula; SSA only applies it. This guide covers the 2027 figure, how it is computed, when it shows up, how it compares with recent years and what else changes in 2027. For the whole program, start with our Social Security guide. We refresh this page each October when SSA announces the next COLA.
These are federal rules. We checked every figure against the Social Security Act, SSA’s regulations, the Federal Register, SSA, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, CMS and the U.S. Code on October 27, 2026. They are listed at the end.
What is the Social Security COLA for 2027?
It is 3.6%. In SSA’s words: “Nearly 72 million Social Security beneficiaries will see a 3.6 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) beginning in January 2027. Increased payments to about 7.3 million people receiving SSI will begin on December 31, 2026.” Counting people who get both only once, SSA puts the total at 76 million. The official notice was published in the Federal Register on October 26, 2026.
You do not have to be collecting yet. The COLA raises your full retirement age benefit, called your primary insurance amount, from the year you turn 62 (or become disabled), whether or not you have claimed. The Federal Register notice says the 3.6% applies where “eligibility for benefits (that is, the worker’s attainment of age 62, or disability or death before age 62) occurred before 2027.” So if you turned 62 in 2026 or earlier, your full amount goes up 3.6% even if you are waiting to claim. If you turn 62 in 2027 or later, this COLA does not apply to you; your benefit is set by the 2027 or later formula instead, explained in our guide to how Social Security is calculated.
How the COLA is calculated
The Social Security Act ties the COLA to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), published monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. SSA compares the average CPI-W for July, August and September of this year with the same three months of the last year that had a COLA. For 2027 those were 2026 and 2025:
| CPI-W | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| July | 316.349 | 327.104 |
| August | 317.306 | 328.481 |
| September | 318.139 | 330.654 |
| Third-quarter average | 317.265 | 328.746 |
The arithmetic: (328.746 minus 317.265) divided by 317.265 is 3.62%, and the law rounds to the nearest tenth of a percent, so 3.6%. SSA’s regulation rounds 0.05% and above up. If prices do not rise, or the rounded rise is zero, there is no COLA that year.
Three more rules sit behind the number:
- Which index. SSA has used the CPI-W since automatic COLAs began in 1975. The Bureau of Labor Statistics now publishes other price indexes, but in SSA’s words, “we follow precedent by continuing to use the CPI-W.”
- The trust fund safeguard. The law would cap the COLA at wage growth if the trust funds held less than 20% of a year’s cost. For 2026 the reserves were 151.3% of a year’s cost, so the full price rise applies. The longer-term outlook is in our guide to trust fund depletion.
- Rounding. The raised full amount is rounded down to the next 10 cents. Reductions for claiming early, and deductions such as Medicare, are then applied to the new amount, and the monthly payment is rounded down to a whole dollar.
When the 2027 COLA shows up in your check
Social Security is paid a month behind: the benefit for December 2026 arrives in January 2027, and that is the first payment with the 3.6%. SSA’s 2027 schedule pays by birth date:
| Your birthday falls on | January 2027 payment |
|---|---|
| The 1st to the 10th | Wednesday, January 13 |
| The 11th to the 20th | Wednesday, January 20 |
| The 21st to the 31st | Wednesday, January 27 |
Two groups get it earlier:
- SSI. SSI is normally paid on the 1st, and January 1, 2027 is a holiday. The Federal Register notice says SSI rates rise 3.6% “effective for payments made for January 2027 but paid on December 31, 2026.” December 31 is a Thursday.
- People paid on the 3rd. If you got Social Security before May 1997, or get both Social Security and SSI, SSA pays you on the 3rd. January 3, 2027 is a Sunday. SSA’s 2026 schedule marks December 31, 2026 for both SSI and this group, and its 2027 schedule marks nothing from January 1 to 3. That December 31 payment is the December benefit, so it carries the raise.
SSA says COLA notices will be in the Message Center of online accounts starting in late November, for people who sign up for paperless notices by November 18; everyone else gets the notice by mail in December. The full year of dates is in our Social Security payment schedule guide.
Social Security COLA history: recent years
SSA’s announcements call this year’s increase the COLA “for 2027”, but its history table lists each COLA under the December it takes effect. So the 3.6% sits in the 2026 row: it starts with December 2026 benefits, paid in January 2027.
| SSA table year (effective December) | First paid in January | COLA |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 2027 | 3.6% |
| 2025 | 2026 | 2.8% |
| 2024 | 2025 | 2.5% |
| 2023 | 2024 | 3.2% |
| 2022 | 2023 | 8.7% |
| 2021 | 2022 | 5.9% |
| 2020 | 2021 | 1.3% |
| 2019 | 2020 | 1.6% |
| 2018 | 2019 | 2.8% |
| 2017 | 2018 | 2.0% |
| 2016 | 2017 | 0.3% |
| 2015 | 2016 | 0.0% |
The 8.7% COLA effective December 2022 was the largest since the 11.2% of 1981. SSA’s table shows no COLA in its 2009, 2010 and 2015 rows, so there was no raise in January 2010, 2011 or 2016. Automatic COLAs began in 1975; before that, Congress set each benefit increase.
What six COLAs did to a $2,000 benefit
COLAs compound, and SSA rounds down to the dime after each one. Take a full retirement age benefit of $2,000.00 in November 2021 and apply each COLA since, as the law does:
| COLA (effective December) | Full amount after the COLA |
|---|---|
| Start, November 2021 | $2,000.00 |
| 2021: 5.9% | $2,118.00 |
| 2022: 8.7% | $2,302.20 |
| 2023: 3.2% | $2,375.80 |
| 2024: 2.5% | $2,435.10 |
| 2025: 2.8% | $2,503.20 |
| 2026: 3.6% | $2,593.30 |
The same benefit is now $2,593.30, 29.7% more than in November 2021. Paid at full retirement age with nothing deducted, that is a check of $2,593 a month.
Worked example: what 3.6% adds to one check
Take a full retirement age benefit of $2,000.00 in November 2026, for someone born in 1960 or later (full retirement age 67).
| Before the COLA | After the 3.6% COLA | Raise | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full amount | $2,000.00 | $2,072.00 | |
| Check if claimed at 67 | $2,000 | $2,072 | $72 |
| Check if claimed at 62 (70% of the full amount) | $1,400 | $1,450 | $50 |
The arithmetic: $2,000.00 x 1.036 = $2,072.00. Someone who claimed at 62 gets 70% of the new full amount, $1,450.40, rounded down to $1,450. The early-claiming cut is applied after the COLA, so a reduced check rises by a smaller dollar amount.
Check it in our Social Security calculator: a $2,000 full amount claimed at 62 shows $1,400 a month, and a $2,072 full amount shows $1,450. The calculator works in today’s dollars and leaves COLAs out, so enter the full amount from your COLA notice once you have it.
The average check moves the same way. SSA estimates the average retired worker’s benefit at $2,095 before the COLA and $2,170 after, an increase of $75 a month. Averages for couples, widows and widowers, and by state, are in our guide to the average Social Security check.
Medicare Part B and the 2027 COLA
If you have Medicare Part B and get Social Security, the premium is usually taken out of your benefit. The Social Security Act says Part B premiums “shall… be collected by deducting the amount thereof from the amount of such monthly benefits.” So the raise you see in your account is the COLA minus any increase in the premium.
The 2027 Part B premium had not been published on October 27, 2026. CMS, which sets it, had posted no 2027 premium announcement in its newsroom on that date. Last year’s was released on November 14, 2025. SSA says the 2027 premium amount will be in the online Message Center starting in late November.
How it worked last year. The standard Part B premium for 2026 is $202.90, up $17.90 from $185.00 in 2025. Take a $2,000.00 full amount before the 2.8% COLA for 2026, claimed at full retirement age, with the standard premium:
| December 2025 payment (November benefit) | January 2026 payment (December benefit) | |
|---|---|---|
| Benefit | $2,000.00 | $2,056.00 |
| Part B premium | $185.00 | $202.90 |
| Paid, rounded down to a whole dollar | $1,815 | $1,853 |
The benefit rose $56 but the deposit rose $38. The law rounds the payment down to a whole dollar after the premium is taken out.
A floor on the premium increase. Section 1839(f) of the Social Security Act stops a premium increase from shrinking the net check. If you were paid benefits for November and December and the premium is taken from them, the premium increase is limited so that your December benefit after the premium is not lower than your November benefit after the premium. It does not apply if your January premium includes the income-related surcharge (IRMAA); our guide to how RMDs are taxed covers that surcharge.
Will the COLA make more of your benefit taxable?
It can. Federal tax on benefits starts when your other income, including tax-exempt interest, plus half your benefits passes $25,000 (single) or $32,000 (married filing jointly), with a second tier above $34,000 and $44,000. Those dollar amounts are written into section 86 of the tax code with no inflation adjustment, so each COLA moves benefits closer to them. Our guides to whether Social Security is taxable and to provisional income have the full rules.
Other Social Security changes for 2027
SSA’s 2027 fact sheet lists the other amounts that change in January. SSI payments follow the COLA. The taxable maximum, the earnings limits, the work-credit amount and the formula’s bend points follow national wage growth instead.
| Item | 2026 | 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum earnings taxed for Social Security | $184,500 | $192,300 |
| Earnings for one work credit | $1,890 | $1,970 |
| Earnings limit, under full retirement age all year | $24,480 a year | $25,560 a year |
| Earnings limit, the year you reach full retirement age | $65,160 a year | $67,920 a year |
| Maximum benefit, worker retiring at full retirement age | $4,152 a month | $4,188 a month |
| SSI federal payment, individual | $994 a month | $1,029 a month |
| SSI federal payment, couple | $1,491 a month | $1,544 a month |
| Disability work limit (substantial gainful activity), non-blind | $1,690 a month | $1,770 a month |
| Disability work limit (substantial gainful activity), blind | $2,830 a month | $2,950 a month |
| Trial work period threshold | $1,210 a month | $1,270 a month |
What stays the same: the payroll tax rate (7.65% for employees, 15.30% for the self-employed) and the SSI resource limits ($2,000 for an individual, $3,000 for a couple). Under the earnings limit, SSA withholds $1 for every $2 earned above the lower limit, and $1 for every $3 above the higher one in the year you reach full retirement age; see our earnings limit guide. For people who turn 62 in 2027, the benefit formula’s bend points are $1,340 and $8,077. The maximum benefit is explained in our guide to the maximum Social Security benefit, and work credits in Social Security credits.
Common COLA mistakes
- Reading SSA’s table year as the payment year. The 2026 row is the raise first paid in January 2027.
- Looking for the raise in a December deposit. For most people the first raised payment comes in January. SSI recipients and people paid on the 3rd get theirs on December 31, 2026.
- Applying 3.6% to the deposit. The COLA raises the full retirement age amount. Early-claiming cuts and the Medicare premium are taken after it, so the deposit can grow by less than 3.6%.
- Thinking you must be claiming to get it. Your full amount gets each COLA from the year you turn 62.
About this guide
Written by the Diversify Guy editorial desk. Diversify Guy is a pen name. It is the byline of our editorial team, not a single individual. We do not publish personal trading records or claim to be your adviser. We tell you where every figure came from so you can check it yourself. How we work and how we get paid.
This guide explains federal rules. It is not personalized financial or tax advice. Diversify Guy earns affiliate commissions and advertising fees from companies featured elsewhere on the site. This page carries no ads and no affiliate links.
Sources and check dates
All sources were fetched and checked on October 27, 2026. This page is refreshed each October when SSA announces the next COLA, and again when CMS publishes the next Part B premium.
- SSA press release, “Social Security Announces 3.6 Percent Benefit Increase for 2027,” October 14, 2026: https://www.ssa.gov/news/en/press/releases/2026-10-14.html
- SSA, 2027 Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Fact Sheet: https://www.ssa.gov/news/en/cola/factsheets/2027.html (and the 2026 fact sheet: https://www.ssa.gov/news/en/cola/factsheets/2026.html)
- SSA, Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Information for 2027: https://www.ssa.gov/cola/
- SSA Office of the Chief Actuary, Latest Cost-of-Living Adjustment (CPI-W figures and computation): https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/latestCOLA.html
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-W, U.S. city average, all items, not seasonally adjusted (series CWUR0000SA0): https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CWUR0000SA0
- SSA Office of the Chief Actuary, Cost-of-Living Adjustments, 1975 to 2026 (COLA history): https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/colaseries.html
- SSA Office of the Chief Actuary, PIA formula bend points for 2027: https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/piaformula.html
- SSA Office of the Chief Actuary, early retirement percentages by birth year: https://www.ssa.gov/oact/ProgData/ar_drc.html
- SSA, “Cost-of-Living Increase and Other Determinations for 2027,” Federal Register, 91 FR 67380, October 26, 2026: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/10/26/2026-21796/cost-of-living-increase-and-other-determinations-for-2027 (PDF: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2026-10-26/pdf/2026-21796.pdf)
- Social Security Act section 215(g) and (i) (rounding; COLA formula), 42 U.S.C. 415: https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/ssact/title02/0215.htm
- Social Security Act section 1839(f) (Part B hold-harmless limit), 42 U.S.C. 1395r: https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/ssact/title18/1839.htm
- Social Security Act section 1840(a)(1) (premium deducted from benefits), 42 U.S.C. 1395s: https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/ssact/title18/1840.htm
- 20 CFR 404.270 to 404.275 (cost-of-living increases), eCFR, title 20 up to date as of October 23, 2026: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-20/section-404.270, https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-20/section-404.271, https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-20/section-404.272, https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-20/section-404.273, https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-20/section-404.274 and https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-20/section-404.275
- Social Security Handbook, section 719 (cost-of-living increases): https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.07/handbook-0719.html
- SSA, Schedule of Social Security Benefit Payments 2027 (Publication No. 05-10031): https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10031-2027.pdf
- SSA, Schedule of Social Security Benefit Payments 2026: https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10031-2026.pdf
- CMS, 2026 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles, November 14, 2025: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/2026-medicare-parts-b-premiums-deductibles
- CMS newsroom (checked for a 2027 premium announcement; none posted on October 27, 2026): https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/articles
- Medicare.gov, Medicare costs (shows 2026 amounts on October 27, 2026): https://www.medicare.gov/basics/costs/medicare-costs
- Internal Revenue Code section 86 (taxation of benefits), U.S. Code 2024 edition: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title26/html/USCODE-2024-title26-subtitleA-chap1-subchapB-partII-sec86.htm
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