“It's the energy prices that are causing havoc,” says Mary Johnson, Social Security and Medicare policy analyst for The Senior Citizens League. Rising prices in 2021 are the driving force behind the higher COLA estimates. A 5.5 percent increase would boost the average monthly benefit by about $83 a 6.1 percent increase would mean a $93 monthly raise. In contrast, the increase that went into effect in January 2021 was 1.3 percent, or an average of about $20 a month for individuals. Moody's Analytics estimates the 2022 COLA at 5.6 percent. Stephen Goss, SSA’s chief actuary, says the COLA will be close to 6 percent. Rising pricesĮstimates for the 2022 COLA range from 5.8 percent from economist Bill McBride, who writes the finance and economics blog Calculated Risk, to 6 to 6.2 percent from The Senior Citizens League. The increase in benefits typically goes into effect in January. The Social Security Administration (SSA) typically announces the amount of the annual adjustment, if any, in October. “With one third of the data needed to calculate the COLA already in, it increasingly appears that the COLA for 2022 will be the highest paid since 1983 when it was 7.4 percent,” says Mary Johnson, Social Security policy analyst for The Senior Citizens League. 'The COLA will no doubt be higher than it has been for the last decade, probably in the 5.5 to 6 percent neighborhood because of rising prices,” says David Certner, legislative counsel and director of legislative policy for government affairs at AARP.Īny estimates are preliminary, and the actual COLA will depend on changes in prices between July and the end of September. Read more about the Social Security COLA for 2022.Įn español | Social Security beneficiaries could be in line for the biggest cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) since the 1980s due to the recent burst of inflation. The COLA goes into effect in January 2022.

Editor’s Note: A 5.9 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for Social Security beneficiaries was announced on Oct.

Social security increase for 2022