Social Security 2027 COLA Is 3.6% -- How Much Your Check Is Increasing Next Year
Social Security recipients' monthly checks are going to increase in 2027. For that, they can thank this year’s sticky inflation, which pushed the 2027 Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to its third-highest level since 2012.
The wild card is whether the new COLA will be effective in offsetting higher prices. That’s not always the case.
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For now, you can at least get a general idea of what your Social Security check should look like next year. Here’s a deeper dive.
What’s the COLA for 2027?
The official COLA for 2027 will be 3.6%, according to a press release issued by the Social Security Administration (SSA) on Wednesday, Oct. 14. That’s up from 2.8% this year and the highest COLA since 2023, when soaring inflation pushed it to 8.7%.
The COLA has exceeded 3.6% only twice over the past decade-and-a-half – 5.9% in 2022 and 8.7% a year later.
The 2027 COLA was announced following the inflation report for September 2026, which the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics also released Wednesday morning. That report showed that overall inflation rose 3.7% year-over-year, above consensus economist estimates for 3.6%.
Nearly 72 million Social Security beneficiaries will see the 3.6% adjustment beginning in January 2027, according to the SSA. Increased payments to about 7.3 million people receiving Supplemental Security Insurance will begin on Dec. 31.
Here’s What Your Check Will Look Like in 2027
The SSA estimates that on average, Social Security retirement benefits will increase by $75 per month. That figure is based on the new COLA and SSA data for August 2026.
Here’s a breakdown of what retirement benefits will look like, along with overall Social Security benefits that include SSI and other payments.
Retirement Benefit
Average check (August 2026): $2,033.27
Monthly increase with 3.6% COLA: $75.15
Average check 2027: $2,108.85
Overall Benefit
Average check (August 2026): $1,941.76
Monthly increase with 3.6% COLA: $69.90
Average check 2027: $2,011.66
Will It Be Enough?
Although the annual COLA is intended to help Social Security beneficiaries deal with rising prices, it often falls short of that goal. Look no further than this year. The 2026 COLA is 2.8%, yet overall inflation has consistently run above 3%.
It’s important to keep in mind what the COLA “does and doesn’t do,” according to Shai Akabas, vice president of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center.
“The COLA looks backward,” Akabas said in an email statement shared with MoneyLion. “It measures how much prices rose between the third quarter of last year and the third quarter of this year, and beneficiaries don’t see the increase until January. When inflation is rising, benefits trail rising prices for a while. When inflation is slowing, beneficiaries may come out slightly ahead.”
One of the biggest issues with the annual COLA -- and one reason many see it as meaningless in fighting persistent inflation -- is that the formula used to calculate it is insufficient to help seniors pay their bills.
As the Social Security Administration (SSA) noted, the annual COLA is based on the consumer price index for urban wage earners and clerical workers (CPI-W). It’s calculated by using the average rate of CPI-W inflation in the third quarter of the year. When those figures come out, the data for July, August and September will be added together and divided by three to get the average.
But critics said it doesn’t account for senior-specific expenses such as increases in the Medicare Part B premium.
The COLA formula was broken even before inflation surged earlier this decade, according to Chad Cummings, an attorney and certified public accountant (CPA) at Cummings & Cummings Law who previously worked in finance and tax.
“No percentage increase can fix this as the formula measures the wrong variables,” Cummings told MoneyLion.
Meanwhile, the AARP has sent out a warning about threats in some quarters to eliminate the COLA altogether.
“Special interests in Washington still want to weaken or eliminate the COLA, which would amount to cutting tens of thousands of dollars for middle-class seniors. We will not let that happen,” AARP CEO Dr. Myechia Minter-Jordan said in a statement shared with MoneyLion.
Editor’s note on political coverage: MoneyLion is nonpartisan and strives to cover all aspects of the economy objectively and present balanced reports on politically focused finance stories. You can find more coverage of this topic on MoneyLion.com.
This article was provided by MoneyLion.com for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial, legal or tax advice.
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