Social Security Benefits Predicted to Increase by 2.7% in 2026

The Senior Citizens League, a nonprofit that tracks Social Security benefits, predicted Thursday that the Social Security Administration will offer a 2.7% cost-of-living adjustment in 2026. The nonprofit’s statistical model forecasted that the average monthly benefits for retired workers will rise by $54, to $2,062 from $2,008.

The predicted increase is slightly higher than last year’s COLA of 2.5%, but lower than 2024’s COLA of 3.2%. The Social Security Administration’s official decision, which will be announced on October 15, will be an average of the previous three months’ inflation, as measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index.

“Seniors across America are holding their breath,” said Shannon Benton, TSCL’s executive director, in a statement. “Our research shows that about 39% of seniors depend on their [Social Security] benefits for all their income, so the COLA announcement has a direct effect on their quality of life.”

In January, the Senior Citizens League predicted that the 2026 COLA would be 2.1%, but its predictions steadily rose to 2.6% in June and 2.7% in July, as both tax experts and ordinary people shared concerns that increasing tariffs could drive inflation.

According to Benton, her nonprofit found that about 80% of surveyed seniors believed that this year’s COLA was far outpaced by last year’s inflation.

Last month, Social Security announced it would stop issuing paper checks, starting September 30.