The anticipated announcement of the 2025 Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) for Social Security is generating considerable discussion among stakeholders. According to recent reports, the initial data from the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) indicates a 2.9% increase as of July 2024. This figure suggests that beneficiaries may receive a modest adjustment in their monthly payments, with estimates ranging from 2.6% to 2.9%. The final COLA will be officially announced in October, and experts predict an average increase of approximately $54 for retirement benefits .
The roughly 70 million people who receive Social Security payments will soon learn how much they'll receive in their 2025 benefit checks, with the program's annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to be announced within days.
Each fall, the Social Security Administration sets its annual COLA based on the recent rate of inflation, part of an overhaul to the program that began in the 1970s that ensures senior citizens and other beneficiaries aren't losing purchasing power in the face of rising prices.
Fortunately, this inflation is more or less in line with the expected cost-of-living adjustment (or COLA) increase. While the Social Security Administration doesn't provide any official forecasts, The Senior Citizens League's most recent prediction suggests the COLA for 2025's Social Security payments will be a respectable 2.5%. That expected increase is down slightly from projections made earlier in the year although inflation has cooled a bit in the meantime.
Cost-of-living adjustments are important for beneficiaries trying to keep up with inflation.
Inflation has ballooned since the pandemic, pushing prices up on essentials like food, clothing and housing. For many enrolled in Social Security, the benefits are already not enough to live on alone. Without COLA, the purchasing power of those benefits would erode.
The COLA increase for VA benefits will apply to disability payments, clothing allowances and dependency and indemnity compensation for surviving spouses and children,.
The agency takes the average inflation rate over that period from what's known as the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, or CPI-W, which tracks spending by working Americans. Because inflation has receded during the past several months, the 2025 COLA is expected to be lower than in prior years.
Read more
A Different Man review — a striking story of love intertwined with a doppelgänger.
Satellite images of Hurricane Helene reveal extensive destruction in North Carolina, with the death toll rising.
Sarah H
Also on site :
- ‘It was my husband’s favorite cake’: Texas woman appeals to H-E-B workers when she learns iconic dessert is discontinued. Then an ex-worker steps in
- Trump announces pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly plans to build 6 US plants
- Chicago DoorDash driver asks if he can take a picture of woman holding her Taco Bell. Then she hits him with an Uno Reverse: ‘He got annoyed’