{"id":221884,"date":"2025-09-12T21:34:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T21:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/221884\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T21:34:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T21:34:13","slug":"social-security-2026-cola-prediction-as-decision-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/221884\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Security 2026 COLA Prediction as Decision Looms"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) is maintaining its projection that Social Security recipients will see a 2.7 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to their benefits next year.<\/p>\n

Why It Matters<\/p>\n

More than 70 million Americans collect Social Security benefits and welfare payments<\/a>, whether that be for retirement or disability.<\/p>\n

Since July, TSCL’s prediction has held steady at 2.7 percent, but it marks a modest increase from forecasts earlier this year\u20142.5 percent in May and 2.6 percent in June. A 2.7 percent increase would see the average retired worker’s benefit boosted by $54, from $2,008 to $2,062. The Social Security Administration (SSA) is expected to confirm the official 2026 COLA in October.<\/p>\n

What Is the COLA?<\/p>\n

The SSA bases its annual COLA on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). This measure reflects the spending habits of younger urban workers rather than retirees.<\/p>\n

Since automatic adjustments were introduced in 1975, the SSA has relied on CPI-W data from July through September to determine yearly benefit increases, with the goal of ensuring payments keep pace with rising expenses\u2014such as housing, food and health care.<\/p>\n

“Seniors across America are holding their breath as we wait for the official COLA announcement in October,” TSCL Executive Director Shannon Benton said in a statement. “Our research shows that about 39 percent of seniors depend on their benefits for all their income, so the COLA announcement has a direct effect on their quality of life<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

\"Social
\nStock image\/file photo: A Social Security card with U.S. dollars.
\nStock image\/file photo: A Social Security card with U.S. dollars.
\nGETTY<\/p>\n

When finalized, the 2026 COLA will apply across the spectrum of SSA-administered programs. That includes retirement and spousal benefits, survivor payments, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and Social Security Disability Insurance. Any increase would begin showing up in beneficiaries’ checks starting January 2026.<\/p>\n

However, the boost is unlikely to have a meaningful effect on seniors<\/a>, retirement experts say.<\/p>\n

“It shouldn’t matter too much since for most retirees, a 2.7 percent increase barely keeps up with everyday costs,” Aaron Cirksena, the founder and CEO of the retirement-planning firm MDRN Capital, told Newsweek. “When groceries, housing, and health care keep rising, that extra check may feel helpful in the moment, but it doesn’t really change the budget picture.”<\/p>\n

Calls for Change<\/p>\n

Growing debate surrounds whether CPI-W accurately reflects the spending realities of older adults. A recent TSCL survey found that 68 percent of seniors favored switching to the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E), a measure designed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to track costs for people aged 62 and above.<\/p>\n

CPI-E places heavier emphasis on categories such as medical care, housing and prescription drugs\u2014expenses that typically weigh more heavily on seniors’ budgets.<\/p>\n

“CPI-E is designed to better reflect the spending habits of people aged 62 and older,” Colin Ruggiero, a co-founder at DisabilityGuidance.org, told Newsweek. “It gives more weight to health care and housing costs, which are two of the fastest-growing expenses for seniors. Switching to CPI-E would make COLAs more relevant and responsive to the real financial pressures seniors face.”<\/p>\n

Still, there is caution that an updated formula would not fully resolve broader concerns about retirement security.<\/p>\n

“Adjusting the COLA is a great start, but it’s not the cure-all,” Ruggiero said. “We also need broader reforms to strengthen the entire retirement system, including benefit adequacy, solvency and support for low-income seniors.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) is maintaining its projection that Social Security recipients will see a 2.7 percent…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":221885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[3231,64,255,700,711,67,132,68,4748],"class_list":{"0":"post-221884","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-benefits","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-personal-finance","11":"tag-retirement","12":"tag-social-security","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us","16":"tag-welfare"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115193476912190907","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}