This social security cola calculator applies a cost-of-living adjustment to your monthly check the way the Social Security Administration does. Enter the amount before deductions from your latest notice, then pick a future raise (the default is the 2.8% paid from January 2026) or replay the official raises between any two years since 1975. It truncates to the dime after each increase, subtracts an optional Medicare Part B premium, and reports the whole-dollar deposit.
With the defaults, $2,000.00 rises to $2,056.00. After the $202.90 standard Part B premium, the deposit moves from $1,797 to $1,853: $56 more in each benefit payment. Switch to the history option and $1,500 paid in January 2016 grows to $2,031.80 after ten raises, a 3.08% compound average.
Social Security COLA Calculator
Apply an assumed cost-of-living adjustment, or the actual SSA raises between two years, to a monthly benefit, with SSA's dime and dollar rounding and an optional Part B premium.
Applies each cost-of-living adjustment to the amount you enter and truncates to the dime, then subtracts any Part B premium and truncates the deposit to the dollar, following SSA's published method. SSA actually raises the PIA and reapplies your claiming factor, so a reduced or delayed benefit can differ by a dime or so. Official increases run through the 2.8% raise paid in January 2026; future rates are your assumption. Tax withholding, IRMAA rules, and other offsets are not modeled. Educational only, not financial advice.
How the Cost-of-Living Adjustment Is Figured From CPI-W Data
A COLA is an annual increase in Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments, set by formula so benefits keep pace with inflation. The formula dates to 1973 legislation; the first automatic raise came in June 1975.
The yardstick is the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), published monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The law compares quarterly averages:
- Average the index for July, August, and September, the third quarter of the current year.
- Compare it with the average for the third quarter of the last year in which a COLA took effect.
- Round the percentage increase to the nearest tenth. Zero or less means no raise.
Here is the COLA calculation behind the latest raise, from the agency’s worksheet: (317.265 minus 308.729) / 308.729 = 2.765%, which rounds to 2.8 percent. Those are the third-quarter averages for 2025 and 2024.
Notice the base: the last year a raise took effect, not simply the previous year. That is why the raise after the 2015 freeze was only 0.3%. Prices first had to climb back above their 2014 level.
Every Raise Since 1975: The Official Table
SSA labels each raise by the year it takes effect. Raises from 1975 to 1982 began with June benefits; every one since has applied to December benefits, paid in January. So the row marked 2025 is what most people call the 2026 COLA.
| Year | % | Year | % | Year | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | 8.0 | 1992 | 3.0 | 2009 | 0.0 |
| 1976 | 6.4 | 1993 | 2.6 | 2010 | 0.0 |
| 1977 | 5.9 | 1994 | 2.8 | 2011 | 3.6 |
| 1978 | 6.5 | 1995 | 2.6 | 2012 | 1.7 |
| 1979 | 9.9 | 1996 | 2.9 | 2013 | 1.5 |
| 1980 | 14.3 | 1997 | 2.1 | 2014 | 1.7 |
| 1981 | 11.2 | 1998 | 1.3 | 2015 | 0.0 |
| 1982 | 7.4 | 1999 | 2.5 | 2016 | 0.3 |
| 1983 | 3.5 | 2000 | 3.5 | 2017 | 2.0 |
| 1984 | 3.5 | 2001 | 2.6 | 2018 | 2.8 |
| 1985 | 3.1 | 2002 | 1.4 | 2019 | 1.6 |
| 1986 | 1.3 | 2003 | 2.1 | 2020 | 1.3 |
| 1987 | 4.2 | 2004 | 2.7 | 2021 | 5.9 |
| 1988 | 4.0 | 2005 | 4.1 | 2022 | 8.7 |
| 1989 | 4.7 | 2006 | 3.3 | 2023 | 3.2 |
| 1990 | 5.4 | 2007 | 2.3 | 2024 | 2.5 |
| 1991 | 3.7 | 2008 | 5.8 | 2025 | 2.8 |
The 1999 figure was first set at 2.4% and made effectively 2.5% by Public Law 106-554. Three years paid nothing: 2009, 2010, and 2015. The 8.7% of 2022 was the biggest since 1981. Across all 51 raises the compound average is about 3.69% a year. Source: the SSA actuarial series.
Why Your Deposit Rarely Grows by Exactly the Percentage
The agency doesn’t just multiply your check. Its published method has four steps:
- Your primary insurance amount (PIA), the full retirement age figure built from your earnings history, is raised and truncated to the next lower dime.
- Your early or delayed claiming factor is applied, truncated to the dime again.
- Any Part B premium is subtracted.
- The rest is truncated to the dollar. That is the Social Security payment that reaches your bank.
The actuaries’ example: a $2,108.50 PIA raised by the latest adjustment becomes $2,167.50, not $2,167.54. We checked this tool’s rounding against it before publishing.
The calculator estimates retirement benefits based on the amount before deductions you enter, since that’s the number on your notice. For a reduced or delayed check the two paths can land a dime apart. Truncation compounds, too: ten years at the default rate take $2,000.00 to $2,635.50, while plain multiplication says $2,636.10. Most forecast tools skip these steps.
Medicare Part B, Hold-Harmless, and the Raise You Keep
Most retirees have Part B taken straight from the check, so the raise you see is the COLA minus any premium increase. For 2026 the standard premium rose from $185.00 to $202.90, up $17.90. On a $2,000 benefit the deposit still went from $1,815 to $1,853.
The hold-harmless provision is a rule in the Social Security Act that caps your yearly premium increase at the dollar amount of your raise, so the net deposit cannot fall. It protects you when:
- you were receiving benefits for November and December of the prior year (for this year’s premium, November 2025 and the month after);
- your December and January premiums came out of your check;
- you did not newly enroll, pay no IRMAA surcharge, and state Medicaid does not pay your premium.
Take a $600 check. The latest raise adds $16.80, to $616.80. The full $17.90 premium jump would cut the deposit from $415 to $413; hold-harmless caps the premium at $201.80, so it stays at $415. The tool applies the cap across one raise only, because the rule works one year at a time.
Higher earners get no such cover. Our IRMAA calculator shows the surcharge that comes out of the same check, and the taxes on benefits calculator covers the taxable share.
Social Security COLA 2027: When the Next Raise Is Set
The 2027 COLA had not been announced when we reviewed this page on September 28. The agency will announce it in October, after the September index is released.
When we pulled the Bureau’s data, the index read 327.075 for June 2026, 327.104 for July, and 328.481 for August. The July and August average, 327.793, runs about 3.3% above the 317.265 base. September decides the rest, so treat any early COLA for 2027 figure as a projection. The Senior Citizens League publishes a monthly forecast that follows inflation trends; useful, but not official.
Whatever the percentage, it applies equally to retirement and survivor benefits and to Social Security Disability Insurance.
Choosing a Raise Assumption for Future Years
No official rate exists beyond the next announcement, so the tool asks for one. Three anchors from the table: 2.53% (the last twenty raises), 3.08% (the last ten), and 3.69% (all since 1975).
The annual cost-of-living raise exists to ensure that the purchasing power of a benefit holds against the CPI-W, which tracks working households, not retirees. If medical care and housing dominate your spending, raises may not keep up with inflation in your own cost of living.
For scale, the average Social Security benefit for retired workers went from $2,015 to $2,071 in January 2026, for nearly 71 million people who receive Social Security benefits. The maximum Social Security check at full age reached $4,152.
Before You Claim: Where Your Starting Figure Comes From
Raises build on your PIA from the year you reach age 62, even if you wait until age 70. So the benefit amount on your statement already reflects them once you’re eligible for benefits.
Before you begin receiving checks, sign in to my Social Security and access your earnings record; it lists estimated retirement figures, benefits based on your age when you file. Without an account, SSA’s Quick Calculator is a benefits calculator to estimate how much you’d get from your date of birth, this year’s pay, and the month you intend to stop working. It doesn’t read your record, so it will estimate your earnings, and retirement benefit estimates built on estimated earnings are rough. It can also show inflated future dollars, so this social security calculator from the agency can estimate your benefits with a COLA using its own assumptions.
Wages earned after you collect Social Security stay subject to Social Security tax. You can apply for benefits up to four months ahead. Our break-even calculator compares claiming ages by birth year, and the spousal calculator covers couples. Claim at full retirement age or older and your monthly social security retirement benefit carries no early cut.
Pull your latest notice, enter the monthly benefit amount before deductions into the social security cola calculator above, and run it twice: at the latest rate and at a higher one. If Part B comes out of your check, add both premiums so the deposit drives your budget.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I work out my raise by hand?
Multiply the amount before deductions by one plus the COLA, drop everything past the dime, subtract Part B, then drop the cents: $2,000 becomes $2,056.00 and a $1,853 deposit.
Is the monthly retirement benefit raise taxable?
It follows the same rules as the rest of your Social Security retirement benefits: depending on combined income, up to 85% can be taxable.
Last reviewed September 28, 2026, against SSA’s COLA series and rounding method, the CMS Part B premium, and BLS CPI-W data. Estimates start from the amount you enter, not your PIA, and exclude tax withholding. Educational only, not financial advice.