SSA to Announce 2026 COLA on Oct 15, Inflation Impacting Retirees
The Social Security Administration (SSA) is set to announce the 2026 Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) on or around October 15, 2025. This announcement is eagerly awaited by the over 70 million Social Security beneficiaries, as it determines their monthly income for the new year. The COLA helps offset the impact of inflation on recipients, which has been particularly significant in recent years.
The COLA is calculated using the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), which measures inflation. However, the method has inherent flaws that have led to a 20% decline in the buying power of Social Security payments since 2010. Despite this, recent years have seen robust COLAs due to increased inflation, with projections for 2026 ranging from 2.7% to 2.8%. This would mark the fifth consecutive year of COLAs meeting or surpassing 2.5%, a historic event.
Retirees enrolled in Medicare may see their 2026 COLA offset by an expected 11.5% increase in Medicare Part B premiums. The COLA calculation only considers inflation data from the third quarter (July, August, and September). Additionally, the estimated COLA for 2026 includes increases such as child benefit rising to 259 euros per child per month from January 1, 2026, higher tax allowances for children, increased minimum wage, and adjustments in social contribution assessment limits. Official announcements about these changes typically occur in the autumn preceding the year 2026.
The 2026 COLA announcement is crucial for beneficiaries to plan their finances for the new year. While recent COLAs have helped counteract inflation, the decline in buying power since 2010 highlights the need for a more accurate measure of inflation. Retirees await the October 15 announcement, hoping for a substantial COLA to maintain their standard of living.
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