Social Security Payment Adjustments Projected to Be Lowest in Years, Group Predicts

A prominent seniors group predicted that the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for next year’s Social Security payments will be 2.4 percent, a 0.1 percentage point increase from its prediction last month. In a statement Tuesday, the Senior Citizens League said that it’s down 0.1 percentage points from 2025’s COLA that was announced by the Social Security Administration, which was 2.5 percent. “The 2026 COLA is projected to be the lowest since 2021,” the group said in its statement. “High inflation during the COVID-19 pandemic led to higher-than-average COLAs of 5.9 percent in 2022 and 8.7 percent in 2023.” If the prediction stands, the group says, people receiving Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments will see the lowest adjustment since 2021, when a 1.3 percent COLA was implemented....