Social Security Payments Set to Increase by 2.5 Percent Next Year, New Estimate Shows

Tens of millions of Social Security recipients also received a 2.5 percent increase in 2025.

Blank Social Security checks are run through a printer at the U.S. Treasury facility in Philadelphia, Pa., on Feb. 11, 2005. William Thomas Cain/Getty Images

The annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for Social Security and Supplemental Security Income payments is forecast to be 2.5 percent next year, according to an estimate released Wednesday.

Based on the federal government’s inflation data, Social Security checks will go up by 2.5 percent in 2026, according to an estimate from The Senior Citizens League. That is up from the 2.4 percent that was forecasted in May.