2027 COLA CalculatorSocial Security COLA calculator 2027: see your new monthly benefit after the raise and Medicare
Enter your current Social Security, SSDI or SSI payment to see exactly how much it goes up in January 2027, what lands in your bank account after the Medicare Part B premium, and the date your first raised payment arrives.
Built and fact-checked by Manzoor AhmadUpdated October 14, 2026 with the official 2027 COLA
Slide to test a different rate.
Add a spouseOptional
Deductions from your paymentMedicare Part B, no tax withheld
Your 2027 benefit estimate
Retirement benefit, 3.6% COLA
| Item | 2026 | 2027 |
|---|
An estimate by DexoCalc, not an official notice. Social Security mails your official COLA notice in December and posts it in your my Social Security account.
If the COLA were different
Your monthly benefit at nearby COLA rates.
| COLA | New monthly benefit | Raise per month | Raise per year |
|---|
How the 2027 COLA is calculated
Average CPI-W for July to September 2026, compared with the same months of 2025.
When your first 2027 payment arrives
Social Security COLA history, 2007 to 2027
Raises take effect in January of each year shown. 2010, 2011 and 2016 had no COLA.
Smart insights
What is the 2027 COLA for Social Security?
The 2027 Social Security COLA is 3.6%, announced by the Social Security Administration on October 14, 2026. It raises the average retired worker’s benefit from $2,071 to about $2,145 a month (+$74), starting with payments in January 2027. SSI rises to about $1,029 a month for an individual, with the first increased payment on December 31, 2026.
A cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, is the yearly raise Social Security gives so benefits keep up with rising prices. It applies to retirement, survivor and disability (SSDI) benefits and to Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Nobody has to apply for it; the Social Security Administration (SSA) adds it automatically and mails or posts a notice in December. This 2027 COLA calculator applies the raise to your own payment and shows the part most news stories skip: how much is left after Medicare takes its share.
On this page
How to use this Social Security COLA calculator
- Enter your 2026 benefit. Use the amount before deductions, shown on your 2026 COLA notice or in your my Social Security account. Choose the benefit type; SSI follows slightly different rules.
- Add your spouse if you want the household total.
- Set your deductions. Leave Medicare Part B on if it comes out of your check, and add any tax you have withheld or other premiums.
- Pick your birthday. The calculator shows the exact date your first raised payment arrives in January 2027.
- Try other rates. The slider lets you test any COLA from 2% to 5%; the “If the COLA were different” table shows nearby rates side by side.
How much will Social Security increase in 2027?
At a 3.6% COLA, the average retired worker’s check rises from $2,071 to about $2,145 a month, a raise of $74 a month or $888 for the year. Here is the 2027 Social Security raise per month at common benefit levels:
| 2026 benefit | 2027 benefit | Raise per month | Raise for 2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1,000 | $1,036 | +$36 | +$432 |
| $1,500 | $1,554 | +$54 | +$648 |
| $2,000 | $2,072 | +$72 | +$864 |
| $2,071 (average retiree) | $2,145 | +$74 | +$888 |
| $2,500 | $2,590 | +$90 | +$1,080 |
| $3,000 | $3,108 | +$108 | +$1,296 |
| $3,500 | $3,626 | +$126 | +$1,512 |
| $4,000 | $4,144 | +$144 | +$1,728 |
| $4,152 (2026 maximum at FRA) | $4,301 | +$149 | +$1,788 |
SSA applies the COLA to your primary insurance amount and then rounds your payment down to the whole dollar, so your official notice may differ from these figures by a dollar.
2027 COLA by benefit type
Applying the 3.6% COLA to SSA’s January 2026 average benefits:
| Beneficiary | 2026 average | 2027 estimate | Monthly raise |
|---|---|---|---|
| All retired workers | $2,071 | $2,145 | +$74 |
| Aged couple, both receiving benefits | $3,208 | $3,323 | +$115 |
| Widowed mother and two children | $3,898 | $4,038 | +$140 |
| Aged widow(er) alone | $1,919 | $1,988 | +$69 |
| Disabled worker, spouse and children | $2,937 | $3,042 | +$105 |
| All disabled workers (SSDI) | $1,630 | $1,688 | +$58 |
| SSI, individual (federal) | $994 | $1,029 | +$35 |
| SSI, couple (federal) | $1,491 | $1,544 | +$53 |
The COLA for SSDI is the same 3.6% as for retirees; every type of Social Security benefit gets the same percentage. The maximum benefit for someone retiring at full retirement age was $4,152 in 2026. The 2027 maximum also depends on the new wage base, which SSA publishes alongside the COLA.
SSI payments in 2027
The federal SSI payment for 2027 is about $1,029 a month for an individual and $1,544 for a couple, up from $994 and $1,491 in 2026. Because January 1, 2027 is a holiday, the first raised SSI payment arrives on Thursday, December 31, 2026. Some states add a supplement on top of the federal amount, and countable income reduces the payment, so your check may differ.
How the COLA is calculated
By law, the COLA equals the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) from the third quarter of the previous year to the third quarter of the current year, rounded to the nearest tenth of a percent.
COLA (Q3 2026 average CPI-W ÷ Q3 2025 average CPI-W) − 1
Q3 2025 base (316.349 + 317.306 + 318.139) ÷ 3 = 317.265
Q3 2026 (327.104 + 328.481 + 330.654) ÷ 3 = 328.746
Result 328.746 ÷ 317.265 − 1 = 3.62%, rounded to 3.6%
With September’s CPI-W of 330.654 released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on October 14, 2026, the third-quarter average came to 328.746, 3.62% above 2025, which rounds to the official 2027 COLA of 3.6%.
Why CPI-W and not CPI-U? The CPI-W tracks prices for working households, not retirees. An experimental index for older Americans, the CPI-E, gives more weight to housing and medical care and has often risen faster, which is why senior advocacy groups argue the COLA understates retirees’ real costs.
The 2027 Medicare Part B premium and your net raise
Most retirees have their Medicare Part B premium deducted straight from Social Security, so any premium increase eats part of the COLA. The standard Part B premium is $202.90 a month in 2026. The 2026 Medicare Trustees Report projects a 2027 standard premium of about $209.50, an increase of $6.60 a month. CMS usually announces the official 2027 premium in November.
For the average retiree, that means the gross raise of $74 becomes a take-home raise of about $67.40 a month. The calculator does this subtraction for you.
The hold-harmless rule protects most people from seeing a smaller deposit: if your COLA dollar increase is smaller than the Part B premium increase, your premium rises only by your COLA amount, so your net payment does not go down. It does not apply to people who pay a higher income-related premium (IRMAA), to new Medicare enrollees, or to people whose premium is paid by Medicaid.
Social Security payment schedule for January 2027
The first payment with the 2027 COLA arrives in January 2027 for Social Security and on December 31, 2026 for SSI. Your date depends on your birthday:
| Who | Payment date |
|---|---|
| SSI recipients | Thursday, December 31, 2026 |
| Benefits began before May 1997, or you get both Social Security and SSI | Thursday, December 31, 2026 (the 3rd falls on a weekend and January 1 is a holiday) |
| Birthday on the 1st to the 10th | Wednesday, January 13, 2027 |
| Birthday on the 11th to the 20th | Wednesday, January 20, 2027 |
| Birthday on the 21st to the 31st | Wednesday, January 27, 2027 |
A December 31 deposit is your January payment arriving early, not an extra one. Budget it for January.
Social Security COLA history
| Year paid | COLA | Year paid | COLA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2027 (official) | 3.6% | 2016 | 0.0% |
| 2026 | 2.8% | 2015 | 1.7% |
| 2025 | 2.5% | 2014 | 1.5% |
| 2024 | 3.2% | 2013 | 1.7% |
| 2023 | 8.7% | 2012 | 3.6% |
| 2022 | 5.9% | 2011 | 0.0% |
| 2021 | 1.3% | 2010 | 0.0% |
| 2020 | 1.6% | 2009 | 5.8% |
| 2019 | 2.8% | 2008 | 2.3% |
| 2018 | 2.0% | 2007 | 3.3% |
| 2017 | 0.3% |
Over the 20 years from 2007 to 2026, COLAs averaged about 2.5% a year. The biggest recent raises were 8.7% in 2023 and 5.9% in 2022, after the post-pandemic surge in prices. There was no COLA at all in 2010, 2011 and 2016, when inflation was flat or negative.
Is the 2027 COLA enough?
The COLA is designed to protect buying power, not to increase it, and how well it does that depends on what you spend money on. From 2022 through 2026, COLAs added up to about 25.2%, while consumer prices (CPI-U) rose about 23.6% from 2021 to 2026, so on paper benefits roughly kept pace. Many retirees still feel behind because the costs that matter most to them, such as housing, insurance and medical care, have climbed faster than the average, and Medicare premiums take part of each raise.
If your budget feels tighter than the COLA suggests, it is worth rebuilding it with today’s prices. The inflation calculator shows how much your costs have risen since any year, the 50 30 20 calculator helps you re-split your monthly income, and the emergency fund calculator sizes a cushion for surprise bills.
Worked example: the average retiree
- 2026 benefit: $2,071 a month, with $202.90 for Medicare Part B, so the deposit is $1,868.10.
- 2027 benefit at a 3.6% COLA: $2,071 × 1.036 = $2,145.56, rounded down to $2,145.
- 2027 Part B premium of $209.50, so the 2027 deposit is $1,935.50.
- Gross raise: $74 a month. Take-home raise after Medicare: $67.40 a month.
- Birthday on the 5th: first raised payment on Wednesday, January 13, 2027.
Related calculators
Plan the rest of your retirement budget with these free DexoCalc tools.
2027 COLA FAQs
The 2027 Social Security cost-of-living adjustment is 3.6% (official). It applies to retirement, survivor, disability (SSDI) and SSI payments starting in January 2027.
At 3.6%, the average retired worker’s benefit rises from $2,071 to about $2,145 a month, an increase of $74 a month or $888 for the year. Your raise equals your current benefit times 3.6%, rounded down to the dollar.
The Social Security Administration announces the 2027 COLA on October 14, 2026, right after the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases September consumer price data at 8:30 a.m. Eastern.
The increase starts with Social Security payments made in January 2027 and with the SSI payment made on December 31, 2026.
It is the percentage increase in the average CPI-W for July, August and September 2026 over the same months of 2025 (317.265), rounded to the nearest tenth of a percent.
At 3.6%, the federal SSI payment is about $1,029 a month for an individual and $1,544 for a couple, up from $994 and $1,491.
SSDI gets the same 3.6% COLA. The average disabled worker’s benefit rises from $1,630 to about $1,688 a month.
The Medicare Trustees project a 2027 standard Part B premium of about $209.50, up from $202.90 in 2026. CMS usually announces the official figure in November.
For the average retiree, the Part B increase of about $6.60 takes part of the $74 raise, leaving about $67.40 more a month. The hold-harmless rule stops most people’s deposit from going down.
Birthdays on the 1st to 10th are paid January 13, 2027; the 11th to 20th on January 20; the 21st to 31st on January 27. SSI and pre-1997 beneficiaries are paid December 31, 2026.
No. The increase is automatic. SSA mails a COLA notice in December and posts it in your my Social Security message center.
It applies the official 3.6% COLA to your benefit and rounds down to the dollar the way SSA pays benefits, then subtracts Medicare and any deductions you enter. Your official notice can differ by about a dollar because SSA applies the COLA to your primary insurance amount.
Manzoor Ahmad
Founder of DexoCalc, 13+ years of web development and SEO experience
Manzoor designs, codes and tests every DexoCalc calculator himself. For this tool he rebuilt the COLA from SSA’s CPI-W formula, applied SSA’s rounding rules and the Medicare hold-harmless provision, and checked every figure against Social Security Administration, Bureau of Labor Statistics and Medicare Trustees publications. Read more about Manzoor.
Sources and references
- Social Security Administration, Latest Cost-of-Living Adjustment and COLA history.
- Social Security Administration, 2026 Social Security Changes fact sheet.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index; FRED, CPI-W (CWUR0000SA0).
- Social Security Administration, Schedule of Social Security Benefit Payments.
- Boards of Trustees, Medicare trust funds, 2026 Medicare Trustees Report (Part B premium projection), as summarized by MOAA.
- Medicare.gov, Medicare costs.
This 2027 COLA calculator provides estimates for planning. It uses the official 3.6% COLA, SSA rounding rules and the Medicare Trustees’ projection for the 2027 Part B premium. Your official COLA notice from the Social Security Administration is the final word on your benefit. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the Social Security Administration.