Each year, Social Security benefits are increased with the aim of countering the effects of year over year inflation. In 2025, all benefits issued by the Social Security Administration (SSA) received a 2.5% boost. Recently on October 24th, the SSA announced the COLA increase for 2026, which came in at 2.8%. This will bring in an additional $56 to the average benefit check starting in January 2026.
The amount any one beneficiary receives in benefits will likely differ from one person to the next. This is because benefits are determined in relation to the claimant’s lifetime earnings and age at which they claim. The COLA increase is a percentage increase and as such, the exact dollar amount by which benefits will increase in 2026 will also vary from one beneficiary to the next.
While the official COLA percentage has already been announced, the SSA will also begin sending out personalized notices to all beneficiaries outlining their specific increase. These notices will start going out as of early December, according to the SSA. Alternatively, beneficiaries will be able to view their personalized COLA increase online through their my Social Security accounts as the information will be made available online as of late November to early December as well. Here is what you need to know.
2.8% boost for Social Security benefits
A 2.8% boost to benefits roughly translates to around $56 more to the average benefit check. While the 2026 COLA is slightly higher than the 2025 COLA of 2.5%, nonpartisan advocacy group The Senior Citizen’s League (TSCL) notes that the 2.8% COLA increase is average from a historical viewpoint.
A 2025 study conducted by TSCL found that “73 percent of seniors depend on Social Security for more than half their income. About 39 percent rely on Social Security for all their income, while another 34 percent depend on the program for 51 percent to 99 percent of their income.” TSCL had further estimated that, “the median senior survives on less than $2,000 a month.”
TSCL research has also found that many seniors are dissatisfied with their benefits, with many claiming that a COLA of at least 3% is necessary. TSCL has also been advocating for the COLA calculation to be conducted using the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly rather than the CPI-W as important factors such as healthcare and housing are given enough weight in the CPI-W. As a result, the COLA increase often appears to fall short.
“One straightforward option for reforming Social Security COLAs would be calculating them with the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E) instead of the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners (CPI-W), which is the government’s current measure for calculating COLAs. The CPI-E is specifically designed to represent older Americans’ spending habits. As a recent TSCL analysis shows, it tends to come in higher than the CPI-W about 69 percent of the time, resulting in thousands of dollars in lost benefits for seniors,” TSCL executive director Shannon Benton stated.
November 19th deadline for beneficiaries
The SSA will begin issuing personalized notices outlining each specific increase and new benefit amounts for 2026 as of late November. These notices can be found by logging into your my Social Security accounts. It is very important to note that beneficiaries will need have set up their my Social Security accounts before November 19th if they wish to receive their COLA alert online.
If a beneficiary does not have a my Social Security account set up before November 19th, they will not be able to receive their COLA alert digitally and will have to wait for the mailed notice from the SSA. According to the agency, mailed notices outlining the COLA increase will begin going out as of early December. As such, all beneficiaries will be notified of their precise increase before it goes into effect regardless of whether or not they view it online or wait for a mailed notice.