Every year at the beginning, the Social Security Administration implements a specific increase in its benefit amounts for prospective and current beneficiaries. For 2024, the latest increase in the SSA payments implemented on the 1st of January was 3.2%. And it is going to be 2.5% for the upcoming year beginning at the 1st of January 2025. The SSA has revealed the official data in October 2024.
SSA COLA History
Since 1975, the SSA has been distributing the benefit payments to the US nationals along with an annual increase in the benefits amounts. The Consumer Price Index determines the increase and its prospective approaches for implementation. After a thorough scrutiny of the current domestic market and the financial condition of the US nationals, the CPI suggests an appropriate increase in the payments. Every few months, the inflation keeps changing deteriorating the condition of the individuals. For all those reasons, the SSA after taking reasonable recommendations from the CPI applies an increase in the existing payout so that the beneficiaries can have access to the inflation-adjusted benefits.
SSA COLA History Quick Overview
| Title | SSA COLA History |
| Administration | SSA |
| Country | The USA |
| Category | Federal Aid |
| Accessible | Disabled, Retired, Old Age, Low Income, etc |
| Official Website | www.ssa.gov |
How is SSA COLA Determined?
The COLA is determined by the CPI reports about consumer behavior and its spending. For the COLA 2025, the base year was 2024. What were the inflation rates in the third quarter of the previous year and in the corresponding quarter of the current year in which COLA became effective will role in determining the percentage increase in the SSA payments.
When Did SSA COLA Started?
After 1983, the COLA was determined by the CPI- Workers report which stated effective changes in the inflation rates across the country. From the beginning of every new year, the COLA benefits the US residents and keeps benefiting for the whole year until the new COLA is about to be implemented. As of now till 2024, the highest COLA was implemented in 1980. In that year the increase in SSA benefits was around 14.3 percent of the then-current rates. This increase was followed by the second highest in the upcoming year 1981, when the COLA was 11.2 percent of the base payments.
SSA COLA History Statistics
| year | COLA | Year | COLA |
| 1975 | 8.0 | 1999 | 2.5 |
| 1976 | 6.4 | 2000 | 3.5 |
| 1977 | 5.9 | 2001 | 2.6 |
| 1978 | 6.5 | 2002 | 1.4 |
| 1979 | 9.9 | 2003 | 2.1 |
| 1980 | 14.3 | 2004 | 2.7 |
| 1981 | 11.2 | 2005 | 4.1 |
| 1982 | 7.4 | 2006 | 3.3 |
| 1983 | 3.5 | 2007 | 2.3 |
| 1984 | 3.5 | 2008 | 5.8 |
| 1985 | 3.1 | 2009 | 0.0 |
| 1986 | 1.3 | 2010 | 0.0 |
| 1987 | 4.2 | 2011 | 3.6 |
| 1988 | 4.0 | 2012 | 1.7 |
| 1989 | 4.7 | 2013 | 1.5 |
| 1990 | 5.4 | 2014 | 1.7 |
| 1991 | 3.7 | 2015 | 0.0 |
| 1992 | 3,0 | 2016 | 0.3 |
| 1993 | 2.6 | 2017 | 2.0 |
| 1994 | 2.8 | 2018 | 2.8 |
| 1995 | 2.6 | 2019 | 1.6 |
| 1996 | 2.9 | 2020 | 1.3 |
| 1997 | 2.1 | 2021 | 5.9 |
| 1998 | 1.3 | 2022 | 8.7 |
In 2009 and 2010, the reason behind no COLA increase was worldwide recession and in 2015, the CPI did not recommend any increase in the cost of living prices and inflation rates. Therefore there was no increase in the payments.
SSA COLA Records Latest Updates
The latest for the base year 2024, the COLA is 2.5% percent for 2025. 2009, 2010, and 2015 were the year when the citizens did not receive any COLA increase. In 2016, the beneficiaries witnessed the smallest increase in the COLA as it remained around a 2.3 percent increase in the base prices. The highest COLA ever implemented was in the years 1980 and 1981. Since then in 2022 for the base year 2021, the COLA increase was 8.7 percent which is till now the third highest in numbers.