Social Security benefits are on pace to receive a 2.7% cost-of-living adjustment in 2026.

The Social Security Administration will announce the 2026 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) on October 15, provided the government shutdown has ended. In the meantime, two of three data points needed to determine the COLA are available, which means we already have a good sense for how much benefits will increase next year.

Read on to learn how much additional income retired workers can expect from Social Security.

Social Security benefits are forecast to increase 2.7% in 2026

Since 1975, the buying power of Social Security benefits has been protected from inflation by annual cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) tied to the CPI-W, a subset of the Consumer Price Index . The CPI-W tracks prices ac

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