A COLA (Cost-of-Living Adjustment) letter from the Social Security Administration (SSA) is an annual notification mailed in December informing beneficiaries of their updated benefit amount for the upcoming year. It details the percentage increase (2.8% for 2026) applied to payments to keep up with inflation.
What is a COLA? Legislation enacted in 1973 provides for cost-of-living adjustments, or COLAs. With COLAs, Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits keep pace with inflation. The latest COLA is 2.8 percent for Social Security benefits and SSI payments.
The COLA is applied to survivor benefits, family benefits and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) as well as retirement benefits, and to SSI, a monthly benefit administered by the SSA for people with low incomes and limited assets who are 65 or older, blind or have a disability.
Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) letters, also known as Quarterly Statements, are informational statements provided to beneficiaries in receipt of a UNJSPF periodic benefit. These statements provide the quarterly exchange and COLA percentage applied annually to your benefit entitlements.
Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) letters from Social Security are typically mailed in early December to notify beneficiaries of changes for the upcoming year. If you have direct deposit, payments will adjust automatically even if the letter is delayed.
The 2.8 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will begin with benefits payable to nearly 71 million Social Security beneficiaries in January 2026. Increased payments to nearly 7.5 million SSI recipients will begin on December 31, 2025.
Most retirees are eligible for COLA starting at the age of 62 under one of these federal retirement programs: Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) FERS Special. Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS)
WHEN DO WE SEND YOU A NOTICE? We will send you a notice, to inform you about your claim, benefit status or benefit amount. A notice will be sent if your benefit amount or eligibility changes and/or terminates.
Key takeaways
Social Security is a federal program that provides income to retirees, survivors of deceased workers and disabled people. The average Social Security check for retirees is around $2,000 per month — slightly higher than the average benefit for survivors and people with disabilities.
The U.S. Department of Labor calculates the change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for urban wage earners and clerical workers from the third quarter average of the previous year to the third quarter average for the current year.
Essential Requirements: How do I qualify for the $16728 Social Security bonus? To qualify for this bonus, you must meet specific criteria: Age Requirements: You must be between your full retirement age and 70 years old. Full retirement age varies by birth year – typically 66-67 for current retirees.
Yes, all Social Security recipients (retirees, disabled individuals, survivors) automatically get the Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA), but the net dollar increase can vary because higher Medicare Part B premiums, deducted directly from benefits, reduce the take-home amount for many beneficiaries, especially those with higher incomes. The official COLA percentage (e.g., 2.8% for 2026) is applied to everyone's base benefit before deductions, but the actual increase in your bank account depends on these offsets, notes Yahoo Finance and CNBC.
You get two Social Security checks in December if you receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI), not regular Social Security, because the January payment gets moved to late December (usually Dec 31) since January 1st (New Year's Day) is a federal holiday, resulting in a December 1st payment and a December 31st payment for January's benefits, with the later one often including the COLA increase.
Recipients will be able to check their COLA notices by visiting their my Social Security account online, or by waiting for the one-page paper notice to arrive in the mail, beginning in December. To receive a digital notice, be sure to log in to you my Social Security account and opt out of the mailing by November 19.
The 2026 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) is slightly higher than last year's 2.5 percent increase, reflecting a recent uptick in inflation. The 2.8 percent COLA will boost the average monthly benefit for a retired worker by about $56, from $2,015 to $2,071, according to SSA estimates.
COLA is an annual cost-of-living increase that begins the second calendar year after retirement and helps your retirement benefit keep up with the rate of inflation. Eligible retirees, including survivors and beneficiaries, will receive information in April for their May 1 retirement check.
The Cost-of-Living Allowance in the continental United States (CONUS COLA) is a taxable, supplemental allowance designed to help offset expenses for Service members assigned to expensive CONUS areas.
Yes, Social Security recipients received a Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) for 2025, but the bigger news is that they are getting a larger 2.8% COLA for 2026, announced in October 2025, which began with January 2026 payments, increasing average benefits by about $56 per month. The 2025 COLA was a smaller 2.5% increase, while the 2026 adjustment reflects moderating inflation, leading to higher payments starting in the new year.