Sunita Somvanshi
A COLA is an annual inflation-linked adjustment to Social Security benefits, not a discretionary raise. The 2027 Social Security COLA has not been officially announced. The Social Security Administration is scheduled to announce it in October 2026, after the final third-quarter inflation figures are in.
The CPI-W, or Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, is the price index Social Security uses to set adjustments. The CPI-W August 2026 reading is available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics: consumer prices rose 0.4 percent in August, headline prices were 3.4 percent higher over the year, and the CPI-W measure used for Social Security was 3.5 percent higher over the year. The August CPI-W index stood at 328.481. These describe one month and are not the final 2027 increase.
The COLA is based on the third-quarter average CPI-W, the arithmetic mean of July, August and September. September’s figure is still needed before the calculation is complete. The September CPI release is scheduled for October 14, 2026.
The current 2026 COLA is 2.8 percent, following a 2.5 percent COLA in 2025. On September 11, 2026, The Senior Citizens League projected a 3.5 percent 2027 COLA. That is an estimate, not the official number, and the final percentage may differ once September data arrives.
A COLA is an inflation adjustment; a higher check does not necessarily mean improved buying power, because Medicare premiums are figured separately and could reduce the net gain for some beneficiaries. The 2027 COLA will be reflected in Social Security payments beginning in January 2027. Background on the Medicare-offset effect is in this earlier COLA analysis, and the announcement-timing context is covered in this forecast update.
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