Social Security recipients will see an 8.7% increase in their benefits beginning January 2023, the Social Security Administration announced today.
“The Social Security Act ties the annual COLA to the increase in the Consumer Price Index as determined by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics,” the SSA said in a press release. Experts had predicted a higher-than-usual rise in benefits because of recent inflation.
The bump in benefits tops the 5.9% increase beneficiaries saw in 2022, which at the time was the highest in four decades. The last time the cost-of-living adjustment was higher was in 1981, when the increase was 11.2%.
Increased benefits for some SSI recipients will begin in December.
The SSA released the following estimates of average monthly benefits:
Read the SSA’s press release here.
If you have questions about your benefit amount, contact the Social Security Administration at 1-800-772-1213.