The notice has not reached your mailbox yet. Online notices open in late November, and paper ones wait for December. You can still work out the number tonight with one multiplication.
On October 14, 2026, the Social Security Administration set the 2027 cost-of-living adjustment at 3.6%. The increase reaches 76 million people across Social Security and Supplemental Security Income, and it is the biggest since the 8.7% adjustment of January 2023. On average, retirement benefits rise about $75 a month.
The 3.6% announcement
About 72 million Social Security beneficiaries see the 3.6% beginning with January 2027 benefits. About 7.3 million people on SSI get the higher payment starting December 31, 2026, and some people receive both. The SSA lists all of this, plus the 2027 limits, on its COLA page.
The percentage comes from a fixed rule. The SSA compares the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) in the third quarter of this year with the third quarter of the last year that set a COLA. If prices did not rise, there is no COLA. Automatic annual increases started in 1975.
The SSA's history list shows how much the figure moves: 8.7% for 2023, 3.2% for 2024, 2.5% for 2025 and 2.8% for 2026. The SSA also set a 0.0% COLA in 2010, 2011 and 2016.
Your own increase in one multiplication
Multiply your current monthly benefit by 0.036 for the raise, or by 1.036 for the new amount. A benefit of $1,000 becomes $1,036. Larger benefits follow the same rule:
- $1,500 rises $54 to $1,554.
- $2,000 rises $72 to $2,072.
- $2,500 rises $90 to $2,590.
- $3,000 rises $108 to $3,108.
An average raise of about $75 a month implies a current average benefit near $2,080, because $75 divided by 0.036 is $2,083. That is my arithmetic from the SSA's rounded figure, so treat it as an estimate.
Medicare Part B premiums come out of your monthly benefit, so a higher 2027 premium shrinks the net raise. The SSA says people with Medicare see their new 2027 amount in the December notice, and Medicare posts its 2027 changes on medicare.gov.
The Percentage Calculator handles both directions. Its What is X% of Y mode returns the dollar raise, and its percentage change mode checks a figure on your notice when you type the old and new amounts.
If you receive SSI
SSI runs on a different calendar. The higher payments begin on December 31, 2026, so the first raised SSI payment arrives before the year ends. About 7.3 million people receive SSI, and some of them also receive Social Security, so both benefits rise by the same 3.6%. The SSA also reminds people on SSI to report changes in earnings each month, because unreported earnings can lead to an overpayment that must be repaid.
A worked example from start to finish
Say your benefit is $1,840. The raise is $1,840 times 0.036, which is $66.24, and the new benefit is $1,906.24. The 2026 Medicare Trustees Report projects the standard Part B premium rising from $202.90 to $209.50 in 2027, a $6.60 increase, and CMS had not announced the final amount when the SSA released the COLA. With that projection, the net raise falls from $66.24 to $59.64. Over a year the full raise adds $794.88 before premiums, so a quick calculation in October gives you a firm number to plan around.
Checking the notice when it arrives
Divide the new amount on your notice by the old amount. A result of 1.036 confirms the 3.6% raise. A lower result often means a deduction changed, such as a Medicare premium, so compare the notice's breakdown before you worry. A higher result is worth a call to the SSA at 1-800-772-1213, the number on its COLA page. Account holders can also turn on text or email alerts, and the SSA sends one when the notice lands in the Message Center.
A year of the raise, added up
Multiply the monthly raise by 12 to see the annual effect. A $72 monthly raise on a $2,000 benefit is $864 a year. Compare that with the bills that grow fastest in your budget, using the same multiplication on each one. Say rent rises 5% on $1,200. That is $60 a month, which takes most of the $72. Small percentages also build over time. If five COLAs in a row matched 3.6%, a $2,000 benefit would reach about $2,387, because $2,000 times 1.036 five times over is $2,386.87.
Compounding across the years
Each COLA applies to the benefit that the last one produced, so the percentages compound. Take a $1,500 benefit in December 2021. The six adjustments from 2022 through 2027 are 5.9%, 8.7%, 3.2%, 2.5%, 2.8% and 3.6%. They add up to 26.7 points. Applied one after another, they take $1,500 to about $1,945, a rise of 29.7%. That is simple arithmetic and ignores any rounding in real payments.
Other limits that moved in 2027
Several limits follow wage growth and rose faster than the COLA. The taxable maximum, the amount of earnings subject to Social Security tax, goes from $184,500 to $192,300, up 4.2%. The earnings limit for workers under full retirement age goes from $24,480 to $25,560, up 4.4%. The limit for the year a worker reaches full retirement age goes from $65,160 to $67,920, up 4.2%.
The earnings test shows how the numbers work. A worker under full retirement age all year loses $1 of benefits for each $2 earned above $25,560. Someone who earns $30,000 is $4,440 over the limit, so $2,220 comes out of benefits. In the year a worker reaches full retirement age, the rule changes to $1 for each $3 above $67,920, counted until the worker reaches that age. A worker who earns $80,000 in the months before reaching full retirement age is $12,080 over the limit, so about $4,027 comes out of benefits. A worker at full retirement age or older for the whole year has no limit.
People born in 1960 reach full retirement age of 67 during 2027. The Age Calculator shows your exact age in years, months and days today, and the SSA's retirement age calculator lists the full retirement age for each birth year.
Putting 3.6% in context
The ten most recent COLAs on the SSA's list, from 2018 through 2027, average 3.44% by my simple math. The 3.6% sits a little above that. The last four COLAs, from 2024 through 2027, average about 3.0%, and the 3.6% tops the other three. I read it as an ordinary year after the 2022 and 2023 spike. The SSA's list runs from 8.0% in July 1975 to 3.6% in 2027, and its largest entry is 14.3% in July 1980. The smallest nonzero COLA is 0.3% in 2017.
Many older adults expected more. An AARP survey of 1,023 adults 50 and older, fielded September 17 to 21, found that 76% did not think a projected 3.5% COLA would keep up with rising prices.
Scams follow the notice
COLA season brings letters, texts and calls that claim to come from the SSA. According to the SSA's own page, no government agency or reputable company will ask for your personal information or for advance fees paid by wire transfer or gift card. Online notices live in your my Social Security account, and the SSA says to create an account by November 18 to see yours there. Type ssa.gov into your browser and skip the link in any message. The QR code scam guide explains the same habit for codes you did not ask for.
Common questions
For Social Security, yes. The 3.6% begins with benefits payable in January 2027. SSI recipients see the higher payment starting December 31, 2026.
No. The percentage is the same, 3.6%, but it applies to each person's own benefit, so a $1,000 benefit rises $36 and a $2,000 benefit rises $72. The SSA puts the average retirement raise at about $75 a month.
Not if your Medicare premium rises. Part B premiums come out of your monthly benefit, so a higher premium shrinks the net raise. The SSA says the new 2027 amount for people with Medicare shows up in the December notice and in the my Social Security Message Center.
The 3.6% applies to your benefit amount. The earnings test is a separate rule that can withhold benefits when a worker under full retirement age earns above the limit, which is $25,560 for 2027.
Yes. The SSA says that if prices do not rise, there is no COLA, and it set 0.0% for 2010, 2011 and 2016.
No. The Social Security Act ties it to the CPI-W, the index for urban wage earners and clerical workers, which the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes.
Yes, for most beneficiaries. The SSA says online notices start in late November in the Message Center of a my Social Security account, and accounts created by November 18 qualify. Paper notices go out in December.
No. The Percentage Calculator does its math in your browser. It uploads nothing and saves nothing.