--- title: The Social Security COLA Estimate for 2025 Just Increased Thanks to Inflation description: A new estimate puts the forecast for the 2025 Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) at 2.4% thanks to the latest inflation data. authors: - name: Mary Ellen Cagnassola role: Reporter url: https://money.com/author/mary-ellen-cagnassola/ bio: Mary Ellen (M.E.) Cagnassola is a former Money reporter specializing in Social Security and retirement coverage, with a focus on making complex policy accessible to readers. education: Rutgers University, BA Journalism at_money_since: 2021 articles: 205 covers: - Retirement - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Shopping - Taxes former_staff: true editors: - name: Julia Glum role: Managing Editor url: https://money.com/author/julia-glum/ bio: Julia Glum joined Money in 2018 and specializes in covering financial trends that affect everyday Americans' wallets. She also writes Dollar Scholar, a weekly newsletter that teaches young adults how to navigate the messy world of money. education: University of Florida at_money_since: 2018 articles: 453 covers: - Retirement - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Shopping - Taxes - Technology also_seen_in: - Newsweek - International Business Times - CBS News - Good Morning America - WUSA9 - Pix 11 - The New York Times - Mashable - The Washington Post - CNBC - Politico social: - https://x.com/superjulia - https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-glum published: '2024-03-15T11:17:54.000Z' section: Retirement tags: - News word_count: 435 canonical: https://money.com/social-security-cola-estimate-2025-increase/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Photo-illustration of office binders creating a rising graph, with a social security card in the background.](https://img.money.com/2024/03/News-Cola-2025.jpg) Next year’s Social Security cost-of-living-adjustment — or [COLA](https://money.com/how-social-security-benefits-cola-calculated/) — could be 2.4%, an increase from a previous forecast. The new prediction, which comes from advocacy group The Senior Citizens League, is based on February consumer price index data released Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In January, the organization estimated the 2025 COLA would be 1.75%. But [inflation inched up](https://money.com/inflation-affects-fed-interest-rate-cuts/) a bit from January to February. The consumer price index for urban wage earners and clerical workers (or CPI-W) — a subset of the CPI that’s used to calculate the COLA — came in at 3.1% for the month of February, leading to this slightly higher COLA estimate. ## Put a gold-backed IRA into your golden years ### Gold IRAs are similar to traditional retirement accounts, but they are backed by investments in gold and other precious metals, such as silver, platinum, and palladium. To get started, click on your state. [Invest in Gold](https://money.com/pr/g648fe360239?ap_referrer=%2Fsocial-security-cola-estimate-2025-increase%2F) ## What is the COLA, and how is it calculated? Every year, the Social Security Administration increases benefits for its roughly 70 million recipients to bring their payments up to speed with inflation. Using data from the [CPI-W](https://money.com/social-security-cola-cpi-e/), the increase is based on the average inflation for the third quarter of the year, which spans July, August and September. The average is then compared to that of the previous year, and the difference is the COLA. For 2024, the COLA was 3.2%, which increased the average retiree benefit by $59 a month, according to the Social Security Administration. The typical Social Security payment for a retired person is $1,907. ## Costs are rising for older Americans While inflation has cooled significantly from its 9.1% peak in the summer of 2022, February’s consumer price index for all urban consumers shows that it’s still above the Federal Reserve’s target 2% rate. The CPI-U increased 0.4% in February after ticking up 0.3% the previous month, mostly due to increases in the cost of shelter and gasoline, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Mary Johnson, policy analyst for The Senior Citizens League, says certain expenses borne by older adults have continued to increase. “Shelter, medical and transportation prices remain higher than overall inflation rate,” she says in an email. A January survey from The Senior Citizens League shows that this year’s COLA isn’t necessarily helping older Americans keep up with inflation. Ninety-three percent of respondents said their household expenses increased in 2023 by more than $59 a month, meaning their costs are likely now outpacing their raise. Forty-three percent of respondents said their expenses jumped more than $185 per month last year. The COLA for 2025 is set to be announced in October. ![](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/19305/medium_414558a1-29d4-465e-b5d1-921febc39ed2.png) American Hartford Gold can help you take control of your financial future [Invest in Gold](https://money.com/pr/u1f7b2bc903e?ap_referrer=%2Fsocial-security-cola-estimate-2025-increase%2F) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/social-security-cola-estimate-2025-increase/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Retirement", "item": "https://money.com/retirement/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Social Security", "item": "https://money.com/social-security/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The Social Security COLA Estimate for 2025 Just Increased Thanks to Inflation" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/social-security-cola-estimate-2025-increase/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/social-security-cola-estimate-2025-increase/", "name": "The Social Security COLA Estimate for 2025 Just Increased Thanks to Inflation", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2024-03-15T11:17:54.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/social-security-cola-estimate-2025-increase/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/social-security-cola-estimate-2025-increase/#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "The Social Security COLA Estimate for 2025 Just Increased Thanks to Inflation", "articleSection": "Retirement", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2024/03/News-Cola-2025.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "News-Cola-2025" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mary Ellen Cagnassola", "url": "https://money.com/author/mary-ellen-cagnassola/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/mary-ellen-cagnassola/#author", "description": "Mary Ellen (M.E.) 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