COLA is short for Cost-of-Living Allowance. In 2023, the Social Security Administration announced a 8.7 percent cost-of-living adjustment. This rate increase will apply to the approximately 70 million Americans who receive monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits.
For some beneficiaries, the Social Security increase may be partially or totally setoff by the increases in Medicare premiums.
The COLA increase will begin with benefits payable to more than 65 million Social Security beneficiaries in January 2023. Increased payments to more than 7 million SSI beneficiaries will begin on December 30, 2022. (Note: some people receive both Social Security and SSI benefits.)
For more information on how the Social Security Administration calculates yearly COLA increases, visit www.socialsecurity.gov/cola.