Social Security COLA 2027: 3.6% Raise and What It Means

The Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 2027 is 3.6%. The number comes from the September 2026 consumer price data the Bureau of Labor Statistics released on October 14, 2026, run through the formula written into the Social Security Act. It applies to retirement, survivor and disability benefits and to Supplemental Security Income (SSI). For the average retired worker, 3.6% works out to roughly $75 more a month, starting with the payment that arrives in January 2027. It is the largest increase since the 3.2% raise for 2024 and well above the 2.8% beneficiaries received for 2026.

Below: how the 3.6% was calculated, what it means in dollars for different benefit amounts, when the first higher payment lands, how Medicare Part B premiums can eat into the raise, what changes for SSI and disability, and which official amounts the Social Security Administration (SSA) publishes alongside the COLA.

Social Security COLA 2027 at a glance

Item	2027
Cost-of-living adjustment	3.6%
Based on	CPI-W, average of July–September 2026 vs. July–September 2025
Average CPI-W, Q3 2025	317.265
Average CPI-W, Q3 2026	328.746
First higher Social Security payment	January 2027 (the benefit for December 2026)
First higher SSI payment	December 31, 2026 (the payment for January 2027)
Average retired worker, estimated increase	about $75 a month
2026 COLA, for comparison	2.8%

How the 2027 COLA was calculated

The COLA is not a decision anyone makes in Washington each fall. Since 1975 it has been automatic: the law ties it to one inflation index, the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), published monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The SSA takes the average CPI-W for July, August and September of the current year, compares it with the same three-month average from the year the last COLA was determined, and rounds the percentage increase to the nearest tenth of a percent. If prices did not rise, there is no COLA; benefits never go down because of the formula.

Here are the official, not seasonally adjusted CPI-W index values (1982–84 = 100) used for 2027:

Month	2025	2026
July	316.349	327.104
August	317.306	328.481
September	318.139	330.654
Third-quarter average	317.265	328.746

328.746 divided by 317.265 is 1.03619, an increase of 3.619%, which rounds to 3.6%. The same method applied to the 2024 and 2025 averages (308.729 and 317.265) gives the 2.8% the SSA announced for 2026, which is a useful check that the arithmetic matches the agency's.

Why inflation picked up in 2026

The CPI-W rose faster in the first half of 2026 than in 2025: the index climbed from 317.942 in January to 328.829 in May, then eased slightly over the summer before rising again in September. That is why forecasts made in the spring briefly pointed above 4%, then drifted back toward 3.5% as summer readings cooled. The final third-quarter average landed at the upper end of the late-summer estimates from AARP and The Senior Citizens League, which had projected 3.5% to 3.6%.

What 3.6% means in dollars

The COLA is applied to your full benefit before Medicare premiums or tax withholding are taken out, and the result is rounded down to the next lower dime. The table shows what a 3.6% increase does to typical monthly amounts. Your own figure will differ slightly because of rounding and because the raise is applied to your unrounded primary insurance amount.

Monthly benefit in 2026	Increase (3.6%)	Approximate 2027 benefit
$1,000	$36	$1,036
$1,500	$54	$1,554
$2,071 (average retired worker, January 2026)	about $75	about $2,146
$2,500	$90	$2,590
$3,000	$108	$3,108
$4,000	$144	$4,144

The average retired-worker benefit of $2,071 is the SSA's own January 2026 figure from its 2026 COLA fact sheet; the 2027 amounts above are our calculation using the 3.6% rate. The SSA's 2027 fact sheet lists its own estimated averages for retired workers, couples, widows and widowers and disabled workers, and those are the figures to quote for official purposes.

Social Security COLA 2027 for disability (SSDI)

Social Security Disability Insurance gets exactly the same 3.6% as retirement benefits; there is no separate disability COLA. Survivors, spouses and children receiving benefits on someone's record also get 3.6%. The same goes for people who receive both retirement and disability-related amounts.

When the first higher payment arrives

The 2027 COLA applies to benefits for December 2026, and Social Security pays each month's benefit the following month. So the first larger Social Security deposit comes in January 2027. SSI works differently: it pays for the current month, so the first higher SSI payment is the one for January 2027. Because January 1 is a federal holiday, that payment goes out on Thursday, December 31, 2026.

Who	Usual payment day	January 2027 date
SSI recipients	1st of the month	Thursday, December 31, 2026
Benefits before May 1997, or Social Security plus SSI	3rd of the month	Thursday, December 31, 2026 (January 3 is a Sunday and January 1 a holiday)
Birthday on the 1st–10th	Second Wednesday	January 13, 2027
Birthday on the 11th–20th	Third Wednesday	January 20, 2027
Birthday on the 21st–31st	Fourth Wednesday	January 27, 2027

Your exact new amount appears in the COLA notice the SSA sends each December. If you have a my Social Security account, the notice is posted in the Message Center, usually in early December, before paper letters arrive. You can choose online-only delivery in the account settings.

Medicare Part B and the "net" raise

For most retirees, the Medicare Part B premium is deducted from the Social Security payment, so the increase you actually see depends on what the premium does in 2027. The standard Part B premium for 2026 is $202.90 a month, with an annual deductible of $283, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS has not announced the 2027 premium yet; it usually does so in November, after the COLA.

Two rules matter here:

• Hold-harmless protection. If you had Part B deducted from your Social Security in both December and January, your premium cannot rise by more than your dollar COLA increase. Your net Social Security payment cannot go down because of a higher Part B premium. The protection does not cover new enrollees, people who pay higher-income surcharges (IRMAA) or people whose premiums are paid by Medicaid.
• IRMAA. Higher earners pay more for Part B and Part D based on income from two years earlier, so 2027 surcharges are based on 2025 tax returns. The COLA itself does not affect IRMAA brackets for 2027.

A rough example: a retiree receiving $2,071 who gains about $75 would keep the full $75 only if the Part B premium stays at $202.90. If it rises by $10, the net increase falls to about $65. We will add the official 2027 Part B premium here when CMS publishes it.

SSI payments in 2027

The SSI federal benefit rate rises by the same 3.6%. For 2026 the maximum federal SSI payment is $994 a month for an eligible individual and $1,491 for an eligible couple. Applying 3.6% gives roughly $1,030 and $1,545. The SSA computes the official amounts from unrounded figures and rounds down to the whole dollar, so the published numbers can differ by a dollar from a simple calculation; its 2027 fact sheet gives the exact rates. Many states add a supplement on top of the federal amount, and those state payments are not automatically raised by the COLA.

Other figures that change for 2027

Several important Social Security thresholds are not tied to the COLA but to the national average wage index, which the SSA publishes on the same day. They include the maximum earnings subject to Social Security tax, the retirement earnings test limits and the amount needed to earn a credit. For reference, here are the 2026 values from the SSA's 2026 fact sheet; the 2027 values are on the SSA's COLA page.

Item	2026 value
Maximum taxable earnings	$184,500
Earnings test, under full retirement age	$24,480 a year ($1 withheld for every $2 above)
Earnings test, year you reach full retirement age	$65,160 a year ($1 withheld for every $3 above)
Substantial gainful activity (non-blind)	$1,690 a month
Substantial gainful activity (blind)	$2,830 a month
Trial work period	$1,210 a month
SSI federal payment, individual / couple	$994 / $1,491

Once you reach full retirement age, there is no earnings limit at all, and any benefits withheld earlier because of the earnings test are credited back by recalculating your monthly amount.

COLA history: how 2027 compares

Benefit year	COLA
2018	2.0%
2019	2.8%
2020	1.6%
2021	1.3%
2022	5.9%
2023	8.7%
2024	3.2%
2025	2.5%
2026	2.8%
2027	3.6%

Over these ten years the COLA averaged about 3.4%. The 2023 raise of 8.7% was the largest since 1981; 2016 had no COLA at all because the CPI-W did not rise.

Does the COLA keep up with seniors' costs?

The CPI-W measures prices paid by working households, not retirees. Older Americans spend a larger share of their budgets on health care and housing, which often rise faster than the overall index. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes an experimental index for Americans 62 and older (often called CPI-E), and advocates have long argued that it should be used instead; switching would require Congress to change the law. The COLA also does not account for the Part B premium, which in recent years has grown faster than benefits.

The flip side: in years when prices of things retirees buy less often, such as gasoline or new cars, jump sharply, the CPI-W can overstate the inflation an older household feels. For most people the practical takeaway is to compare the 3.6% with their own budget rather than with the headline figure.

Taxes on a higher benefit

A bigger benefit can push some people over the income thresholds at which Social Security becomes taxable. The IRS counts "combined income" (adjusted gross income plus nontaxable interest plus half of your Social Security benefits). Above $25,000 for a single filer or $32,000 for a married couple filing jointly, up to 50% of benefits can be taxable, and above $34,000 or $44,000, up to 85%. These thresholds are fixed in law and are not adjusted for inflation, so each COLA can bring a few more households into the taxable range. Separately, taxpayers 65 and older can claim an additional deduction of up to $6,000 per person for tax years 2025 through 2028, which reduces the tax many retirees owe on benefits and other income. If you have federal tax withheld from your benefit, the withholding percentage you chose is applied to the new, higher amount automatically.

Other programs that follow the Social Security COLA

• Federal retirees. Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) annuities rise by the full 3.6%. Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) annuities follow a different rule: when the CPI-W increase exceeds 3%, the FERS COLA is the increase minus one percentage point, so FERS retirees eligible for a COLA get 2.6%.
• Military retirees receive the same percentage as Social Security, 3.6%.
• Veterans' disability compensation is raised each year by law, and Congress has consistently set it equal to the Social Security COLA.
• SNAP and other means-tested programs can count the higher Social Security amount as income, which in some cases slightly lowers another benefit.

What to do now

1. Check your notice in December. Log in to my Social Security in early December to see your 2027 benefit amount, Part B deduction and any tax withholding.
2. Wait for the Part B premium. Your net raise depends on it; CMS normally announces it in November.
3. Review withholding. If you are close to the taxation thresholds, consider whether to change voluntary federal withholding (Form W-4V).
4. SSI recipients: report income and resource changes as usual; the higher federal rate does not change the reporting rules.
5. Be wary of scams. The SSA does not call, text or email to ask for payment or personal information in order to "activate" a COLA; the increase is automatic.