Following minor delays with the release of the September CPI due to the federal government shutdown, the Social Security Administration (SSA) managed to announce the 2026 COLA increase before the end of October. Starting in January 2026, all benefits issued by the SSA will be increased by 2.8%, and this includes the Supplemental Security Income as well. Here is everything you need to know about when beneficiaries will receive their first benefit check with the 2026 COLA boost included.
When will the 2026 COLA increase come into effect?
Whilst the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) announcement is made annually in October, benefit amounts will only be increased as of January of the upcoming year. The reason the SSA makes the announcement in October is because of the data it uses in its calculation for the COLA. The COLA is determined by measuring the CPI-W for July, August, and September year over year. As such, the SSA announces the next COLA as soon as the September CPI data becomes available, which is typically in early October. Announcing the COLA early affords beneficiaries an additional bit of time to plan their budgets for the new year with the knowledge of their precise income for the new year on hand.
The 2.8% increase to all benefits will be implemented with the benefits intended for January 2026. The regular Social Security benefit follows a Wednesday payment rotation throughout the month, whilst the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is typically paid on the first of the month. The SSI payment schedule does, however, have a quirk where payment dates fluctuate if the first of the month falls on a holiday or a weekend. In these cases, the SSA will push the payment up to the last working day of the previous month so as to prevent any delays with payment on the part of the beneficiary.
As such, here is a complete outline of dates on which Social Security beneficiaries can expect to receive their first benefit check with the COLA increase included:
- December 31st, 2025 — SSI benefit for January 2026
- January 2nd, 2026 — Social Security for those who had received Social Security before May 1997, or for those who also receive the SSI
- January 14th, 2026 — Social Security for recipients with birth dates from the 1st to the 10th of their respective birth months
- January 21st, 2026 — Social Security for recipients with birth dates from the 11th to the 20th of their respective birth months
- January 28th, 2026 — Social Security for recipients with birth dates from the 21st to the 31st of their respective birth months
Due to the scheduling quirk with the SSI benefit payment schedule, SSI recipients will technically be receiving their 2026 COLA increase in 2025. It is, however, important to note that the December 31st SSI payment is the SSI benefit intended for the month of January 2026.
Is the COLA increase enough?
A 2.8% boost to benefits will bring the average retiree around $56 more come January. However, studies have found that a substantial number of seniors feel as though their benefits do not stretch as far enough as they need it to. According to research from The Senior CItizen’s League (TSCL), “only 10 percent of seniors are happy with the amount they receive from their monthly Social Security checks, with many citing COLAs that lag inflation as a problem.”
TSCL has also been advocating for a change in the index used in the COLA calculation. Currently, the COLA is determined using the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners (CPI-W). The CPI-W measures the spending habits of younger individuals who are currently in the workforce and as such, the COLA is not truly reflective of the costs faced by seniors. The TSCL advocates for changing over the CPI for the Elderly instead. According to TSCL analysis, the CPI-E “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.”