The Social Security Administration's 2025 cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security beneficiaries will be 2.5%.
The annual COLA is based on inflation data for the third quarter, through September.
The consumer price index data for September, released Thursday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, shows inflation ran at 2.4% over the past 12 months before a seasonal adjustment and was up 0.2% during September on a seasonally adjusted basis.
The 2025 COLA is smaller than 2024's increase of 3.2%, which followed a near-record increase of 8.7% in 2023.
A Near-Average COLA
The Social Security Administration uses average inflation in the third quarter, based on the consumer price index for urban wage earners and clerical workers (CPI-W), to calculate the benefit adjustment for the following year.
The final 2.5% figure for 2025 is roughly in line with analysts' projections made during the year. It's also near the 2.6% average over the past 20 years.
