Every year, Social Security income is protected against inflation by cost-of-living adjustments, or COLAs. Benefits had a COLA of 3.2% this year and 8.7% last year, both above the 2.3% 10- year average. Nonetheless, given the current state of the economy, many Social Security claimants continue to face financial difficulties.
A nonprofit group called the Employee Benefit Research Institute conducted the 2024 Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS), and it found that 26% of retired workers are dubious they will have enough money to live comfortably in retirement, and 56% of retired workers anticipate making considerable spending adjustments to keep up with inflation.
However, no formal announcements will be made by the Social Security Administration (SSA) until October 2024. Estimates for the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) in 2025 have been produced based on Social Security COLA Forecast 2025.
| Country | USA |
| Year | 2024 |
| Organization | Social Security Administration |
| Amount to be increased | Yet to be announced |
| Beneficiaries | All SSI, SSDI & VA candidates |
| Official Website | www.ssa.gov |
There are advantages and disadvantages to the anticipated raise that need to be considered. Even though the actual adjustment won’t be revealed until October, the independent Senior Citizens League has already projected the COLA adjustment for the following year by examining inflation data that has already been gathered. According to the group’s most current projection as of mid-April, the COLA for 2025 will be approximately 2.6%.
Social Security Increase 2024 Due To COLA Raise
Even while inflation has significantly dropped from its summer 2022 top of 9.1%, according to the February consumer price index for all urban consumers, it is still higher than the Federal Reserve’s goal rate of 2%.
The CPI-U increased by 0.4% in February, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, after increasing by 0.3% in January due primarily to higher gas and housing costs. Because of the Social Security Administration’s COLA raise, we anticipate a significant Social Security increase in 2024.
Upcoming COLA Increase 2024
The primary objective of the COLA is to keep Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits from losing buying power due to inflation. The computation of COLA is based on determining the percentage increase from the third quarter of the previous year to the current quarter.
Without an increase, there can be no COLA. Cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) have been automatically adjusted by Social Security every year since 1975. Legislation that connected COLAs to the annual increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI-W) was the source of this modification.
We anticipate a 3.2% increase in line with the 2024 COLA Increase. As a result, this modification guarantees that Social Security benefits will not decrease in value as a result of inflation.