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Social Security’s Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) is crucial for retirees to maintain their buying power. The COLA helps to ensure benefits keep pace with inflation by increasing monthly Social Security benefits based on changes to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). Specifically, third-quarter CPI-W data is considered when determining how much the COLA will be.
Unfortunately, this year, the longest government shutdown in history occurred during the time period when the cost-of-living adjustment was scheduled to be announced. The result of this is that the COLA announcement was delayed until October 24, 2025, when it normally comes much earlier in the month.
The delay, and the fact that the government shutdown was the longest in history, may have some older retirees concerned about whether their COLA will actually arrive on time when the new year rolls around. What seniors and others collecting Social Security need to know about the timeline for this benefit increase to take place.
Here’s when you’ll see your COLA
The good news is, even though the government shutdown delayed the announcement of the Cost of Living Adjustment, the delivery of the extra money is expected to be on time.
Lawmakers have voted to end the government shutdown, and even when it was in effect, Social Security benefits were still distributed to retirees. Benefit checks are not typically interrupted when the government does because they are essential spending, and because Social Security payments are funded from revenue from current workers as well as from the program’s trust fund, rather than from the general fund.
Since the data has now been made available, the shutdown is over, and benefits were always on schedule anyway, retirees will see their Cost of Living Adjustment at the normal time when the increase in payments always comes. For those who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits, this will be with the deposit they receive on December 31, 2025. For those who get Social Security retirement benefits, the bigger payments will start coming in January when your regularly scheduled payment is made. Here is what that schedule looks like:
- January 14, 2026: Checks come to those born between the 1st and 10th
- January 21, 2026: Checks come to those born on the 11th to the 20th
- January 28, 2026: Checks come to those born on the 21st through the 31st
You’ll also receive the official announcement of how much your benefits will be increasing starting in early December. If you want to find out this information ASAP, you should register for a mySocialSecurity account before November 19, as that’s the deadline for getting online notice of your Cost of Living Adjustment.
Retirees should prepare for their benefits to increase in 2026
Getting a bigger check is obviously good news for retirees, and the cost-of-living adjustment this year will be bigger than last year. While retirees got a 2.5% benefits increase in 2025, Social Security checks will increase by 2.8% in 2026. However, Medicare premiums are also increasing by around 10%, with the standard premium for Part B coverage going up by $17.90 or around 9.7%. This will bring premiums to $202.90, up from $185. This extra money will come out of the Social Security raise.
It’s also worth noting that while COLAs are supposed to ensure that benefits increase enough to keep pace with inflation, the use of CPI-W to determine the size of the raise has resulted in retirees losing buying power because the consumer price index does not perfectly match their spending patterns. Most retirees tend to spend more on housing and healthcare compared to other things that the index weights more heavily. So, retirees end up not quite getting the full benefits increase they would need to maintain their buying power without extra money coming from other sources.
Seniors need to prepare for the fact that a raise is coming, but that it won’t be that substantial after the higher Medicare premiums come out of it. It may be a good idea to talk with a financial advisor when setting a retirement budget, accounting for the COLA, and determining a safe withdrawal rate so retirees don’t end up spending more than they should during this time of continued high inflation.