Beginning in 2025, Social Security recipients should anticipate receiving larger benefits.
Independent Social Security and Medicare researcher Mary Johnson estimates that the rise for the upcoming year will be 2.6% even though the official Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) won’t be announced until October 10.
The Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) provided the data that supported that figure.
The average Social Security benefit for retired workers would grow by $49.87, or 2.6 percent, from $1,918.28 as of June 2024 to $1,968.15 in 2025. Beginning in January, the COLA increase will be shown on your monthly checks.
Projected rise in your Social Security benefits in 2025
This is the breakdown of a Social Security COLA for various beneficiaries.
| Beneficiary Category | Average Monthly Growth Predicted for 2025 |
Average Expected Check Amounts for 2025
|
| Retiree | $49.87 | $1,968.15 |
| Retired Couple Who Get Benefits Together | $99.75 | $3,936.31 |
| Widow or Widower | $46.39 | $1,830.48 |
| Children of Workers Who Have Passed Away | $28.73 | $1,134.05 |
| Disability-affected Worker | $39.98 | $1,577.68 |
The COLA for 2023 is predicted to rise by a record 8.7 percent, but next year’s increase will likely be significantly lower. That anomalously huge spike, the largest in almost forty years, resulted from the sharp increase in inflation that occurred between 2021 and 2022.
But according to the Senior Citizens League, the projected 2.6 percent increase for 2025 is consistent with the average COLA of roughly 2.6 percent for the previous 20 years.
Read Also: Big News for SSDI: Social Security Might Add $600 to Payments
How is the COLA for Social Security determined?
By comparing the increase in the CPI-W for the third quarter of this year to the third quarter of last year, the Social Security Administration determines the new COLA.
Organizations like the Senior Citizens League use data from the Consumer Price Index for July and August, together with estimates for September, to assist them anticipate the COLA.
Millions of Americans rely on Social Security benefits as their only source of income; in June 2024, 72.4 million people were expected to be receiving benefits.
Although COLA projections are a useful tool for forecasting future costs, they do not provide a complete picture. Most Medicare Part B recipients have had their regular premium immediately removed from their benefit checks; this amount is expected to increase again in the upcoming year.
The Medicare Trustees predicted a monthly Part B premium increase of around $10.30, from $174.70 in 2024 to $185 in 2025, in its annual report, which was made public in March. In essence, an increase in the Part B premium results in Social Security beneficiaries receiving a smaller portion of the new COLA.
Before November, the official 2025 Medicare Part B premium hike will be announced.
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