Social Security checks will go up 3.6% in January, the Social Security Administration announced Wednesday. That’s the biggest raise since 2023 and adds about $75 a month to the average retirement check, bringing it to roughly $2,170, CBS News reported. More than 75 million people get the increase.
It’s bigger than last year’s 2.8%, but it still trails inflation. The same morning, the Labor Department said prices rose 3.7% over the past year. “Seniors aren’t getting ahead,” said Shannon Benton of the Senior Citizens League. “They’re getting a slightly bigger check to pay bills that have gotten even bigger.”
How much will my Social Security check go up in 2027?
Multiply your current monthly benefit by 0.036. If you get $1,800 a month now, that’s about $65 more, or $1,865. If you get the average of about $2,095, it’s about $75 more. The increase shows up in January payments. The roughly 7.3 million people on Supplemental Security Income will see it on Dec. 31, because January’s SSI payment moves up a day.
Your exact amount will be in your COLA notice. If you have a My Social Security account online, it’ll be there starting in late November; to get it online instead of by mail, you have to opt into paperless notices by Nov. 18, CNBC reported. Everyone else gets a letter in December, so make sure Social Security has your current address.
Will Medicare premiums eat up the raise?
Some of it. Medicare Part B premiums usually come straight out of Social Security checks, and Medicare’s trustees project the standard premium will rise to $209.50 a month in 2027, from $202.90 this year. That takes about $6.60 of your raise right off the top. Higher-income retirees pay more, and Part D drug plan premiums may rise too.
Why do seniors say 3.6% isn’t enough?
Because the formula looks backward and doesn’t track what older people actually buy. The raise is based on an inflation measure for working households from July through September. Advocates say it undercounts health care, which takes a bigger share of a retiree’s budget. “The COLAs are designed to keep pace with inflation, not make up for years of falling behind,” Benton said. The poverty rate for seniors rose to 15.4% last year from 14.2% in 2022, and in an AARP survey, about three in four older Americans said a 3.5% raise wouldn’t be enough.
The BeezLoop Take
A 3.6% raise is real money, and it’s the biggest in three years. But it comes after a year in which last year’s 2.8% fell behind prices for seven straight months, and it’s measured against a basket of goods that isn’t what retirees spend on. Seniors are being made whole on paper while their actual bills, medicine, insurance, rent, run ahead.
The bigger problem is coming. Social Security’s trust fund is projected to run short in 2032, which would mean an automatic cut of more than 20% for everyone unless Congress acts. Every year politicians spend on promised checks instead of fixing that is a year closer to the cliff.
The open question: will Congress switch the raise to an inflation measure built for seniors, or keep using one that leaves them falling behind?
Also on BeezLoop: Trump’s $90 Medicare checks and his $5,000 promise.
Sources: CBS News · CNBC · NBC Chicago / AP · Forbes Breaking News (video)
