{"id":1419,"date":"2025-07-16T17:55:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T17:55:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/2025\/07\/16\/2026-social-security-cola-benefits-estimated-to-rise-by-2-6-in-2026-bankrate\/"},"modified":"2025-07-16T17:55:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T17:55:16","slug":"2026-social-security-cola-benefits-estimated-to-rise-by-2-6-in-2026-bankrate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/2025\/07\/16\/2026-social-security-cola-benefits-estimated-to-rise-by-2-6-in-2026-bankrate\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 Social Security COLA: Benefits Estimated To Rise By 2.6% In 2026 | Bankrate"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If you\u2019re a Social Security beneficiary, you may see a boost in your checks starting in 2026.<\/p>\n

While the official Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) won\u2019t be released until Oct. 10, the increase for next year is estimated at 2.6 percent, according to The Senior Citizens League, a nonpartisan senior citizens group that accurately predicted the 2.5 percent COLA for 2025. That number is based on data from the Department of Labor\u2019s Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W).<\/p>\n

A 2.6 percent increase would raise the average Social Security payment for retired workers from $1,980.86 (as of February 2025) to $2,032.36 in 2026, an increase of $51.50. Social Security COLAs take effect in January.<\/p>\n

Social Security benefits: How much could they increase in 2026?<\/h2>\n

Here\u2019s how a Social Security COLA breaks down for different recipients.<\/p>\n

Predicted COLA increases for 2026<\/h3>\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Beneficiary type<\/th>\nAverage 2025 check (as of February)<\/th>\nAverage estimated monthly increase in 2026<\/th>\nAverage estimated 2026 check amounts<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Retiree<\/strong><\/td>\n$1,980.86<\/td>\n$51.50<\/td>\n$2,032.36<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Retired couple, both receiving benefits<\/strong><\/td>\n$3,961.72<\/td>\n$103.00<\/td>\n$4,064.72<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Worker with disability<\/strong><\/td>\n$1,580.76<\/td>\n$41.10<\/td>\n$1,621.86<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Widow(er)<\/strong><\/td>\n$1,837.16<\/td>\n$47.77<\/td>\n$1,884.93<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Children of deceased workers<\/strong><\/td>\n$1,136.27<\/td>\n$29.54<\/td>\n$1,165.81<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Source:<\/em> Social Security Monthly Statistical Snapshot<\/em><\/p>\n

Next year\u2019s estimated COLA is expected to be close to the 2.5 percent seen this year and in line with the average COLA of about 2.6 percent over the past 20 years, according to the Senior Citizens League.<\/p>\n

How Social Security COLA is calculated<\/h2>\n

The Social Security Administration calculates the new COLA by measuring the increase in the CPI-W for the third quarter of this year with the third quarter of last year. Monthly reports on the Consumer Price Index help organizations like the Senior Citizens League predict the COLA ahead of time.<\/p>\n

Social Security payments are a lifeline for millions of Americans, with an estimated 73.9 million people receiving some form of Social Security benefits in April 2025.<\/p>\n

While COLA estimates give you a good idea of what to expect next year, it doesn\u2019t paint the full picture. The standard Medicare Part B premium \u2014 which most beneficiaries have deducted directly from their benefit payments \u2014 could go up next year, too.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Bankrate\u2019s <\/em>Johna Strickland<\/em> contributed to an update of this article.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Help us improve our content<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re a Social Security beneficiary, you may see a boost in your checks starting in 2026. While the official Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) won\u2019t be released until Oct. 10, the increase for next year is estimated at 2.6 percent, according to The Senior Citizens League, a nonpartisan senior citizens group that accurately predicted<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1419-2024-cola-estimates-social-security-benefits-expected-to-increase.jpeg",1280,720,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1419-2024-cola-estimates-social-security-benefits-expected-to-increase-150x150.jpeg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1419-2024-cola-estimates-social-security-benefits-expected-to-increase-300x169.jpeg",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1419-2024-cola-estimates-social-security-benefits-expected-to-increase-768x432.jpeg",640,360,true],"large":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1419-2024-cola-estimates-social-security-benefits-expected-to-increase-1024x576.jpeg",640,360,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1419-2024-cola-estimates-social-security-benefits-expected-to-increase.jpeg",1280,720,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1419-2024-cola-estimates-social-security-benefits-expected-to-increase.jpeg",1280,720,false],"morenews-featured":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1419-2024-cola-estimates-social-security-benefits-expected-to-increase-1024x576.jpeg",1024,576,true],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1419-2024-cola-estimates-social-security-benefits-expected-to-increase-825x575.jpeg",825,575,true],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1419-2024-cola-estimates-social-security-benefits-expected-to-increase-590x410.jpeg",590,410,true],"crawlomatic_preview_image":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1419-2024-cola-estimates-social-security-benefits-expected-to-increase-260x146.jpeg",260,146,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"henry","author_link":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/author\/henry\/"},"category_info":"Latest News<\/a>","tag_info":"Latest News","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}