It looks like previous projections were correct—the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 2025 will be just 2.5%. This is the smallest annual COLA hike since 2021, and will equate to an extra $50 a month come January. “A lot of seniors are going to say that this is not really enough to keep up with prices,” AARP Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Bill Sweeney tells CBS News. “The automatic annual cost-of-living adjustment is one of Social Security’s most essential and unique features. It is intended to ensure that benefits do not erode over time,” said Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works. Here’s what the new adjustment will mean for seniors.
RELATED: Social Security Benefits Are Barely Rising in 2025.
Why Such a Low Hike?
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The COLA is lower because of inflation—but it’s not exactly positive news. “We got a good message mixed in with the bad. The reason the COLA is so low is because inflation is under control,” Kelly LaVigne, vice president of consumer insights at Allianz Life, tells CBS News. “Here’s the hard part: Great, inflation is under control, but seniors don’t really feel like they got caught up.”
Prices Are Still High
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For many seniors, the small increase in Social Security payment will barely make a dent in expenses. “It’s not like prices came back down,” Joe Elsasser, certified financial planner and president of Covisum, a Social Security claiming software company, tells CNBC. “It’s just that the rate of increase has slowed, and so that probably contributes to people’s feeling that inflation hasn’t slowed.”
Retirement Benefits
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The age at which retirees can claim full benefits is also changing, according to The Motley Fool: “While those who turn 66 in 2024 can claim their full, unreduced benefits at 66 and 8 months, anyone who is not turning 66 until 2025 must wait to start their payments until 66 and 10 months. Otherwise, they will face monthly early filing penalties that apply to those who claim benefits before full retirement age.”
RELATED: Big Changes Coming to Social Security.
No Real Retirement
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Some seniors may have to pick up part-time work to make ends meet. “I would like to eat good but I can’t,” Sherri Myers, an 82-year-old retiree from Pensacola City, Florida, tells AP. When I’m at the grocery store, I just walk past the vegetables because they are too expensive. I have to be very selective about what I eat — even McDonald’s is expensive. Myers is hoping to work an hourly job at Walmart to pay her bills.
How Many People Get Social Security?
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The COLA will impact millions of Americans. “Over the last decade the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) increase has averaged about 2.6%,” says the Social Security Administration. “The COLA was 3.2% in 2024. Nearly 68 million Social Security beneficiaries will see a 2.5% COLA beginning in January 2025. Increased payments to nearly 7.5 million people receiving SSI will begin on December 31, 2024.”