Social Security cost-of-living increase for 2025 could be 2.5% — the lowest since 2021, estimate finds
Social Security beneficiaries have seen higher cost-of-living adjustments in recent years, prompted by record high inflation.
Yet next year’s increase may not be as generous.
Based on new government inflation data, beneficiaries may see just a 2.5% increase to benefits in 2025, estimates Mary Johnson, an independent Social Security and Medicare analyst.
In 2024, more than 71 million Americans — including Social Security and Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries — saw a 3.2% cost-of-living adjustment, according to the Social Security Administration.
A spike in inflation drove the annual benefit boost even higher in 2023, when there was an 8.7% increase, the highest in four decades. That followed a 5.9% raise in 2022, which at the time also marked a recent high.
In 2021, the cost-of-living adjustment was 1.3%.