On October 12, 2023 the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced that more than 66 million Social Security beneficiaries will be getting a 3.2% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in 2024. Those who receive SSI will get their first boosted payment at the end of this year.
Each year, the Social Security Administration determines the cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security payments. This adjustment is called COLA increase and is based on the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers from the third quarter of the previous year to the third quarter of the current year.
Is this year’s COLA increase normal?
Some years there are no COLA increases and other years increases have been as high as 10%. The 3.2% increase doesn’t seem high enough to us, but it is a fairly average amount based on the historical increases over the past 30 years.
