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After decades of almost no increase, Social Security recipients have enjoyed larger than usual cost of living adjustments (COLA) since 2022. Unfortunately,

While we're still a few weeks away from the October announcement, it hasn't stopped experts in the field that follow inflation trends to make predictions for what the 2025 COLA in

The Social Security Administration will officially announce the 2025 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) on Oct. 10, 2024. It might seem like an arbitrary date to you, but it's not. That's when the government releases the September figure for the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W).

The inflation data for August gives us a pretty good idea about the likely magnitude of Social Security’s cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 2025. This automatic indexing of benefits to keep up with rising prices — always a wonderful feature of our Social Security program — has been particularly valuable in light of the recent bout of inflation.

The purpose of COLAs is to help Social Security beneficiaries maintain their buying power in the face of inflation. Over time, living costs tend to rise naturally. Keeping Social Security payments stagnant would likely force those who rely on them into poverty through the years.

For a majority of Americans, Social Security income is an absolute necessity during retirement. In each of the last 23 years, national pollster Gallup has surveyed retirees to gauge how reliant they are on their Social Security check.

Social Security recipients received a 3.2% adjustment. The average retired worker benefit lands at roughly $1,900 per month, so that amounts to a raise of just over $60 p