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Stock image\/file photo: Social Security cards.<\/p>\n
Upcoming Payment Dates<\/p>\n
If you don’t yet have your September payment, there are two more dates to come this month:<\/p>\n
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Wednesday, September 16:<\/strong>\u00a0Payments for beneficiaries with birthdays between the 11th and 20th.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
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Wednesday, September 23:<\/strong>\u00a0Payments for beneficiaries with birthdays between the 21st and 31st.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
How Much Is Social Security?<\/p>\n
Social Security retirement payments vary according to a worker’s lifetime earnings and the age at which they begin claiming benefits.<\/p>\n
For 2026, the maximum retirement benefit is\u00a0$4,152 per month\u00a0for someone who retires at full retirement age and who earned at least the maximum taxable amount throughout their working career. The maximum is lower, at\u00a0$2,969 per month, for someone who begins collecting benefits at age 62, while a person who waits until age 70 can receive as much as\u00a0$5,181 per month. The full retirement age for people reaching age 62 in 2026 is 67.<\/p>\n
Most beneficiaries receive substantially less than those maximum amounts. As of July 2026<\/a>, the\u00a0average retired worker received $2,085.98 per month. Across all Social Security beneficiaries, including retirees, survivors and people receiving disability benefits, the average monthly benefit was\u00a0$1,940.08.<\/p>\n
Disabled workers received an average of\u00a0$1,635.27 per month, while non-disabled widows and widowers received an average of\u00a0$1,932.74.<\/p>\n
COLA 2027<\/p>\n
Millions of Social Security beneficiaries will get one of the clearest indications<\/a> yet of how much their payments could rise in 2027 when new inflation figures are released later this week.<\/p>\n
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is scheduled to publish its Consumer Price Index data for August on\u00a0September 11, providing the second of three monthly readings used to determine next year’s Social Security cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Current forecasts suggest beneficiaries could receive a larger increase than they did this year. The\u00a0Senior Citizens League<\/a> currently projects a\u00a03.6 percent COLA for 2027, while\u00a0AARP<\/a>\u00a0forecasts a slightly smaller\u00a03.5 percent increase.<\/p>\n
Either would be above the\u00a02.8 percent COLA applied to benefits in 2026. The estimates remain preliminary and could change depending on inflation during August and September.<\/p>\n
The COLA is designed to prevent Social Security and SSI benefits from losing purchasing power to inflation. Rather than using the headline Consumer Price Index commonly reported each month, the SSA calculates the adjustment using the\u00a0Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, or CPI-W.<\/p>\n
The agency compares the average CPI-W for\u00a0July, August and September\u00a0with the average for the same three months in the previous year; the percentage increase becomes the following year’s COLA. If prices do not increase over the relevant period, there is no COLA.\u00a0<\/p>\n
July was therefore the first month that directly counted toward the 2027 calculation. August’s figures on September 11 will leave only September inflation outstanding. The BLS is scheduled to publish that final reading on\u00a0October 14, and the official 2027 COLA will be determined and announced that day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The increase will then apply to Social Security benefits payable for December 2026, which beneficiaries receive beginning in\u00a0January 2027.<\/p>\n
Contact Newsweek editors on this story:\u00a0John Fitzpatrick<\/a> and\u00a0Cristina Diciu.<\/a><\/p>\n
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