Skip to content

Social Security COLA

Apply the official 2026 COLA of 2.8 percent to your benefit with SSA's real rounding rules, and see the net raise after the Medicare Part B increase.

$
$
$
%
Xfin

Your 2026 monthly benefit (gross)

$2,071.40

Gross monthly increase
$56.40
Realized increase
2.80%
Gross increase per year
$676.80
Net monthly increase after Part B
$38.50
Your 2026 payable check
$1,868.00
Hold-harmless rule
Not needed: your COLA increase covers your Part B increase.
How you compare
SSA's average retired worker goes from $2,015 to $2,071, up about $56 a month.
What-if: monthly difference vs 2.8 percent
$0.00
Cumulative extra income: official 2.8 percent vs your what-if rate

What-if: cumulative dollars vs the official COLA

HorizonAt 2.8 percentAt the what-if rateDifference
1 year$676.80$676.80$0.00
5 years$3,384.00$3,384.00$0.00
10 years$6,768.00$6,768.00$0.00

Quick answer: With the example inputs this page loads by default, the headline result (Your 2026 monthly benefit (gross)) comes to $2,071.40. Apply the official 2026 COLA of 2.8 percent to your benefit with SSA's real rounding rules, and see the net raise after the Medicare Part B increase. Change any input above and every figure updates instantly in your browser.

Your inputs never leave your browser, and nothing is stored. See our privacy policy .

Fact-check: results on this page are verified against an independently coded reference oracle that covers all 106 calculators on this site. See how we verify .

The 2026 Social Security COLA is 2.8 percent, effective with January 2026 checks (December 31, 2025 for SSI). The average retired worker gains about $56 gross, but the Medicare Part B premium rises $17.90 to $202.90, so the typical net raise is closer to $38 a month. This calculator applies SSA's actual truncation rules to your benefit, deducts your Part B change, and prices a custom or CPI-E what-if rate against the official one.

What this result means

Read the net increase, not the gross one: for anyone with Part B deducted, the $17.90 premium rise comes out of the raise before it reaches your bank account. The gross percent can print a shade under 2.8 because SSA truncates the raised benefit to the next lower dime rather than rounding. If the hold-harmless note says Applied, your benefit is small enough that the Part B increase would have exceeded your dollar COLA; the law caps the premium increase so the check cannot fall. The what-if difference is hypothetical by construction, useful for sizing how much a different index would change your year, not for predicting 2027.

Assumptions

  • The official 2026 COLA is 2.8 percent (SSA, announced October 24, 2025), effective with benefits paid in January 2026 and with the SSI payment dated December 31, 2025. The compute multiplies your entered benefit by 1.028 and truncates to the next lower dime, matching SSA's published rounding (its worked example: $2,108.50 x 1.028 = $2,167.538, payable $2,167.50).
  • The payable check is the raised benefit minus your 2026 Part B premium, truncated to the next lower whole dollar (SSA truncates the monthly payment after deductions) and floored at zero so a benefit smaller than the premium never shows a negative check.
  • The Part B offset follows your enrollment: already enrolled in 2025 loses only the premium increase ($17.90 at the standard rates of $185.00 and $202.90, per CMS); newly enrolled in 2026 loses the full 2026 premium; not enrolled loses nothing. Both premiums are editable for IRMAA payers, whose 2026 surcharged premiums run $284.10 to $689.90.
  • Hold-harmless is modeled for already-enrolled beneficiaries only: when the Part B increase exceeds your dollar COLA, the premium increase is capped at the COLA amount so the net check never falls. Per the Congressional Research Service, about 1.3 percent of Part B enrollees are in that position for 2026.
  • SSI payments are never reduced by Part B, so the Medicare offset is fully suppressed for the two SSI types. SSA computes SSI rates from unrounded annual figures, so this tool's dime-and-dollar truncation of an entered SSI payment can differ from SSA's own figure by up to a dollar; the official 2026 federal benefit rates are $994 (individual) and $1,491 (couple), pinned in the comparison line.
  • The what-if mode reprices the same 2026 COLA at your custom rate (floored at zero) or the CRS hypothetical R-CPI-E rate of 3.0 percent, then holds the resulting benefit-level difference flat over 1, 5, and 10 years. Future COLAs would compound either path; they are unknowable and deliberately not projected. CPI-E outputs are hypothetical: the law bases COLAs on the CPI-W.
  • The averages in the comparison line are SSA's published 2026 estimates, not guarantees; your own change depends only on your benefit and premiums. This is an educational estimate, not financial, tax, or benefits advice.

Key terms

Definitions for the terms this calculator uses, in our finance glossary .

How it works

The 2026 COLA is 2.8 percent, set by the CPI-W math in Section 215(i) of the Social Security Act: the average CPI-W for July, August, and September 2025 (317.265) divided by the same quarter’s average for 2024 (308.729) is a 2.765 percent rise, rounded to the nearest tenth of a percent. The calculator multiplies your entered benefit by 1.028 and then truncates to the next lower dime, the rounding SSA itself applies (a raised benefit is never rounded up).

The Medicare Part B offset depends on enrollment. If Part B was already deducted in 2025, only the premium change reduces your raise: $17.90 at the standard 2025 and 2026 premiums of $185.00 and $202.90 (CMS). If Part B starts in 2026, the full 2026 premium comes out of the new check. If no premium is deducted, and always for SSI, nothing is subtracted. The payable check is the raised benefit minus the 2026 premium, truncated to the next lower whole dollar per SSA’s payment rounding (POMS RS 00601.020), floored at zero.

Hold-harmless is modeled for already-enrolled beneficiaries: when the Part B increase would exceed your dollar COLA, the premium increase is capped at the COLA amount, so the net check never falls. The what-if mode reprices the same benefit at a custom rate, or at the 3.0 percent hypothetical R-CPI-E rate from the Congressional Research Service, through the identical truncation, then holds the benefit-level difference flat over 1, 5, and 10 years. All math runs in decimal arithmetic; truncation is a floor, never half-up rounding.

Worked example

The average retired worker, $2,015 a month in 2025, with Part B deducted both years at the standard premiums.

  • Raised benefit: 2,015 x 1.028 = 2,071.42, truncated to the dime = $2,071.40.
  • Gross increase: $56.40 a month, $676.80 a year, a realized 2.8 percent.
  • Part B change: 202.90 - 185.00 = $17.90, so the net raise is 56.40 - 17.90 = $38.50.
  • Payable check: 2,071.40 - 202.90 = 1,868.50, truncated to the dollar = $1,868.

SSA’s own published example confirms the dime rule: $2,108.50 x 1.028 = $2,167.538, payable $2,167.50, which this engine reproduces exactly.

What is included and excluded

The tool models one COLA year, 2026, with the official 2.8 percent fixed for the main results. It does not project future COLAs, model the earnings test, income taxes on benefits, IRMAA determination (you can enter surcharged premiums directly), or Medicare Advantage rebates. SSI rates are computed by SSA from unrounded annual figures, so an entered SSI payment run through this tool’s truncation can differ from SSA’s own figure by up to a dollar; the official 2026 federal benefit rates ($994 individual, $1,491 couple) are pinned in the comparison line. CPI-E outputs are hypothetical, because the law bases COLAs on the CPI-W. This is an educational estimate, not financial, tax, or benefits advice.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

What is the Social Security COLA for 2026?
It is 2.8 percent, announced by SSA on October 24, 2025, and paid starting with January 2026 checks. SSI recipients see it in the payment dated December 31, 2025. The same percentage applies to retirement, SSDI, survivor, and spousal benefits and to the SSI federal benefit rates.
How much will my check go up in 2026?
Multiply your gross benefit by 1.028 and truncate to the next lower dime. The average retired worker goes from $2,015 to $2,071, about $56 more a month. If Medicare Part B is deducted from your check, subtract the $17.90 standard premium increase to get the net raise, about $38 for the average retiree.
Will the Medicare Part B increase eat my COLA?
Part of it. The standard 2026 premium is $202.90, up $17.90 from $185.00, so an average $56 gross raise nets about $38. For small benefits where $17.90 would exceed the whole COLA, the hold-harmless rule caps the premium increase at your dollar COLA so the check never falls.
How is the COLA calculated?
From the CPI-W: SSA averages the index for July, August, and September and compares it with the same quarter of the last year a COLA was set. For 2026 that is 317.265 versus 308.729, a 2.765 percent rise, rounded to the nearest tenth to get 2.8 percent, per Section 215(i) of the Social Security Act.
Does the COLA apply to SSDI and SSI?
Yes. The same 2.8 percent raises SSDI (the average goes from $1,586 to $1,630) and the SSI federal benefit rates, which rise from $967 to $994 for an individual and from $1,450 to $1,491 for a couple. SSI payments are not reduced by Medicare Part B, so SSI recipients keep the full increase.
What will the 2027 COLA be?
Unknown until SSA announces it in mid-October 2026 from the Q3 2026 CPI-W data. As of mid-2026, The Senior Citizens League projects 3.8 percent and analyst Mary Johnson projects 4.7 percent. Those are forecasts, not official figures, and this calculator uses only the official 2.8 percent for 2026.

Related calculators

Learn how this works

New to this topic? Our companion guide explains it in plain language: Social Security COLA 2026: How Much More You Will Actually Get (With Calculator)

By Sam Sage Last reviewed .