Social Security COLA history: every adjustment since 1975
Every Social Security cost-of-living adjustment since 1975 in one table, plus the labeling trap that makes the yearly figures look inconsistent.
The percentage is applied to the benefit — it is a multiplication, not an addition. Enter your own numbers to see the arithmetic behind any year in the table below.
This is the gross arithmetic only. Medicare Part B premiums are usually deducted from the same check, so the amount your payment actually rises can be smaller — see “What a COLA is not” below.
The Social Security cost-of-living adjustment — the COLA — is the yearly increase applied to retirement, survivor, disability and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. Since 1975 it has been produced by a fixed formula rather than by an act of Congress — with rare exceptions, the last being a one-time change Congress made to the December 1999 figure. This page is the reference version: every adjustment since then, the arithmetic behind them, and the one labeling detail that makes the published figures look inconsistent when they are not.
The COLA is a federal formula and does not vary by state; state supplements to SSI, where they exist, are a separate matter.
The short version
- Most recent: 2.8%, effective for December 2025 benefits and paid from January 2026. (Some outlets call this “the 2026 COLA” — same number, different label; see below.)
- Largest since automatic COLAs began: 14.3% (the June 1980 benefit, paid that July). Largest this century: 8.7% (the December 2022 benefit, paid January 2023).
- Smallest increase that happened: 0.3% (December 2016). Three years had none at all: 2009, 2010 and 2015.
- The 2027 figure is announced on October 14, 2026 and is deliberately not in this table yet.
The COLA table, 1975–2025
“Year” follows SSA’s own series — the year of the benefit the adjustment applies to. “First payment” translates that into the month the increase actually reached a bank account: SSA pays a month’s benefit in the following month, so the December benefit carrying a COLA is not received until January.
| Year | COLA | First payment |
|---|---|---|
| 1975 | 8.0% | July 1975 |
| 1976 | 6.4% | July 1976 |
| 1977 | 5.9% | July 1977 |
| 1978 | 6.5% | July 1978 |
| 1979 | 9.9% | July 1979 |
| 1980 | 14.3% | July 1980 |
| 1981 | 11.2% | July 1981 |
| 1982 | 7.4% | July 1982 |
| 1983 | 3.5% | January 1984 |
| 1984 | 3.5% | January 1985 |
| 1985 | 3.1% | January 1986 |
| 1986 | 1.3% | January 1987 |
| 1987 | 4.2% | January 1988 |
| 1988 | 4.0% | January 1989 |
| 1989 | 4.7% | January 1990 |
| 1990 | 5.4% | January 1991 |
| 1991 | 3.7% | January 1992 |
| 1992 | 3.0% | January 1993 |
| 1993 | 2.6% | January 1994 |
| 1994 | 2.8% | January 1995 |
| 1995 | 2.6% | January 1996 |
| 1996 | 2.9% | January 1997 |
| 1997 | 2.1% | January 1998 |
| 1998 | 1.3% | January 1999 |
| 1999 | 2.5% | January 2000 |
| 2000 | 3.5% | January 2001 |
| 2001 | 2.6% | January 2002 |
| 2002 | 1.4% | January 2003 |
| 2003 | 2.1% | January 2004 |
| 2004 | 2.7% | January 2005 |
| 2005 | 4.1% | January 2006 |
| 2006 | 3.3% | January 2007 |
| 2007 | 2.3% | January 2008 |
| 2008 | 5.8% | January 2009 |
| 2009 | 0.0% | no increase |
| 2010 | 0.0% | no increase |
| 2011 | 3.6% | January 2012 |
| 2012 | 1.7% | January 2013 |
| 2013 | 1.5% | January 2014 |
| 2014 | 1.7% | January 2015 |
| 2015 | 0.0% | no increase |
| 2016 | 0.3% | January 2017 |
| 2017 | 2.0% | January 2018 |
| 2018 | 2.8% | January 2019 |
| 2019 | 1.6% | January 2020 |
| 2020 | 1.3% | January 2021 |
| 2021 | 5.9% | January 2022 |
| 2022 | 8.7% | January 2023 |
| 2023 | 3.2% | January 2024 |
| 2024 | 2.5% | January 2025 |
| 2025 | 2.8% | January 2026 |
One footnote carried by SSA’s series: the December 1999 adjustment was first computed as 2.4%, then set at 2.5% when Congress passed Public Law 106-554 (December 2000). The table shows the operative figure.
How to read this table — the labeling trap
The single most confusing thing about COLAs is the year printed next to them. SSA’s series lists the adjustment that reached beneficiaries in January 2006 as “2005”, because the adjustment is defined as effective for the December benefit of that year. News coverage flips it and calls the same increase “the 2006 COLA.” Both are describing one number, one determination, one check.
So when two sources seem to disagree about a year — or when a projection for next year’s COLA seems to sit oddly against “last year’s” — check which convention each one is using before you compare them. This page uses SSA’s series year in the table and the actual payment year in the third column.
There is a second wrinkle worth knowing: the first eight COLAs (1975–1982) were effective with the June benefit, not the December one, so for those years the increase was paid that July — still the same calendar year it is named after. Everything from 1983 on follows the December pattern.
How the COLA is calculated
A COLA effective for December equals the percentage increase, if any, in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) — a specific inflation index, not the headline CPI — from the third-quarter average (July, August, September) of the last year a COLA took effect to the third-quarter average of the current year, rounded to the nearest 0.1%. If the average does not rise, there is no COLA. SSA shows its work for the latest determination:
(317.265 − 308.729) ÷ 308.729 × 100 = 2.8%
The 308.729 figure is the third-quarter 2024 CPI-W average, the base because 2024 was the last year a COLA took effect; 317.265 is the third-quarter 2025 average. The September CPI-W is the final missing input each year, which is why the announcement lands in mid-October and not before.
What a COLA is not
- Not a raise. It restores purchasing power inflation already removed. A 3% COLA after a year of 3% inflation leaves you, on average, roughly where you were in real terms.
- Not your number. The headline percentage is applied to your gross benefit, but Medicare Part B premiums are usually withheld from the same check. If the premium rises faster than the COLA, most long-standing beneficiaries are shielded by the “hold harmless” rule, which keeps the net payment from falling — but that still can leave an increase smaller than the headline figure. The notice SSA issues each year, also available in your my Social Security account, has your exact amount.
- Not something you claim. It is automatic. Nobody has to apply for it, confirm it by phone, or pay a fee to receive it. The “confirm your COLA before it’s lost” call is a known impersonation pattern that follows every announcement; a checklist for spotting those is in Is That Really America.gov? A Scam-Spotting Checklist.
- Not a wage index. It is tied to CPI-W, which measures the spending of urban wage earners and clerical workers — a narrower basket than the CPI everyone quotes.
The 2027 COLA
The next adjustment is announced on October 14, 2026, once the September CPI-W is released, and applies to benefits beginning with January 2027. Independent analysts — including The Senior Citizens League and AARP — have been projecting roughly 3.4–3.6% — but a projection is not a determination, so no row appears above until SSA publishes the official figure. For how the number is produced, and why the Medicare Part B premium decides your net increase, see The 2027 Social Security COLA: What Gets Announced October 14.
Frequently asked questions
- What was the highest Social Security COLA ever?
- 14.3%, the largest since automatic annual adjustments began in 1975 — effective with the June 1980 benefit, which was paid that July. The next largest was 11.2% (the June 1981 benefit); the largest this century was 8.7%, effective for the December 2022 benefit and paid in January 2023.
- Why do I see two different years for the same COLA?
- Because of the label, not the number. SSA's official series names the December benefit the adjustment applies to — so the increase people received in January 2023 is listed as 2022. News coverage usually names the year the money arrived and calls the same increase 2023. Both describe one adjustment; check which convention a figure is using before comparing it.
- Has there ever been no COLA?
- Yes — three times since 1975: 2009, 2010 and 2015. When the third-quarter CPI-W does not rise above the base period, the law provides for no increase that year. The smallest increase that did happen was 0.3%, effective for December 2016.
- When is the 2027 COLA announced?
- October 14, 2026, once the September CPI-W is published. It applies to benefits beginning with January 2027. This table does not add a row until SSA publishes the official determination, because a projection is not a determination.
Sources
- Social Security Administration — Cost-Of-Living Adjustments, the official COLA series from 1975 to the latest determination (ssa.gov/oact/cola/colaseries.html)
- Social Security Administration — Latest Cost-of-Living Adjustment, the current determination and the CPI-W computation behind it (ssa.gov/oact/cola/latestCOLA.html)
- Social Security Administration — Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) information and the statutory formula (ssa.gov/cola/)
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), the index the COLA is based on (bls.gov/cpi/)
- Social Security Administration — SSI payment amounts, which increase with the COLA (ssa.gov/oact/cola/SSI.html)
- Independent 2027 COLA projections of roughly 3.4–3.6% from analysts including The Senior Citizens League and AARP, as reported in October 2026 coverage; cited here as estimates only, not determinations
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — CPI release schedule; the September 2026 CPI-W is published the morning of October 14, 2026, the same day SSA announces the 2027 COLA
- Congress.gov — Public Law 106-554 (the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2001, enacted December 21, 2000), which raised the December 1999 COLA from 2.4% to 2.5% (congress.gov)