Social Security announces 2026 COLA increase. How much will your benefits go up?
After a nine-day delay due to the federal government shutdown, the Social Security Administration has released its cost-of-living adjustment for 2026.
Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) will increase 2.8% in 2026, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced Friday morning. Retirement benefits will increase an average of about $56 per month, beginning in January 2026.
While this rate is lower than the average increases over the last decade (3.1%), it’s a boost from the 2.5% COLA adjustment for 2025.
“Social Security is a promise kept, and the annual cost-of-living adjustment is one way we are working to make sure benefits reflect today’s economic realities and continue to provide a foundation of security,” SSA Commissioner Frank J. Bisignano said. “The cost-of-living adjustment is a vital part of how Social Security delivers on its mission.”
The Social Security Administration was scheduled to announce the 2026 cost-of-living adjustment on Oct. 15. Due to the ongoing government shutdown, the announcement was postponed until Friday, Oct. 24.
Prior to each year, the SSA adjusts benefits for Social Security and SSI recipients to keep pace with inflation. COLA is a percentage by which benefits increase from December to January of the next year, based on third quarter (July-September) inflation. The agency uses inflation figures from the Labor Department’s September Consumer Price Index data.
However, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) was unable to release the September report on time because of suspended operations prompted by the government shutdown. BLS now plans on releasing the data on Friday, and the SSA’s COLA announcement is expected the same day.
No, it’s unlikely the government shutdown will delay or reduce Social Security payments. The SSA has contingency systems requiring the issue of payments on time as soon as the data is available.
The timing of the 2018-2019 government shutdown allowed COLA to remain unaffected. The shutdown in 2013 caused data to be delayed until late October; however, COLA was announced soon after and well before payments were impacted.