For retirees and disabled beneficiaries, COLA can make a meaningful difference in annual household budgets, especially when inflation is high.
Recent years have seen large swings in COLA. In 2023, beneficiaries received an 8.7% increase, the largest in decades, in response to post-pandemic inflation pressures. That was followed by more moderate adjustments of 2.5% in 2025 and 2.8% in 2026 as inflation cooled.
