When will the 2025 Social Security COLA be announced?

The Social Security Administration’s announcement of the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) each October is highly anticipated by the 68 million retirees who receive monthly benefits. The latest COLA projection for 2025 is 2.5%, down slightly from last month’s estimate of 2.6%.

The calculated COLA will be applied to Social Security checks starting in January. This happens every year, although the payment can sometimes arrive a few days early due to holidays or weekends.

(Photo source: Getty Images)

When will the 2025 COLA be announced?

The official announcement of the 2025 Social Security COLA is scheduled for October 10 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. One place to follow the announcement of the new COLA is the SSA’s Communications Corner.

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The Social Security Administration takes the average of the CPI-W for July, August, and September of the current year and the previous year to calculate the annual COLA. It then divides the difference by the previous year’s average.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics will calculate the 2025 COLA using the same methodology, but it must wait until it receives the September 2024 CPI-W number. You can easily find the specific CPI-W data you need to make the calculations on the SSA website.

How is COLA calculated?:The 2022 and 2023 CPI-W data have been averaged to get the 3.2% COLA for 2024. The SSA website provides a concise, easy-to-understand explanation of how to calculate the COLA number: The average CPI-W for the third quarter of 2023 is 301,236. Because this average exceeds 291,901 by 3.2%, the COLA effective in December 2023 is 3.2%. The COLA calculation, rounded to the nearest tenth of 1%, is: (301.236 – 291,901) / 291,901 x 100 = 3.2%.

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CFI-W numbers used to calculate 2024 SS COLA
Month	CPI-W 2022	CPI-W 2023	CPI-W 2023
July	292.219	299,899	308.501
August	291,629	301.551	308.640
September	302.257	302.257	To be determined
Total	875.702	903.707	To be determined
Average (rounded to the nearest 0.001)	291.901	301.236	?

(Photo source: Getty Images)

Social Security sets a cap on the amount of income you pay taxes on and receive when calculating benefits. The 2025 Social Security tax limit is projected to be $174,900 in 2025, based on “interim” projections from the 2024 report by the Board of Trustees of the Social Security Trust Fund.

In 2024, the earnings base is capped at $168,600 and is indexed annually for inflation. If you earn more than $168,600 in 2025, you can expect a higher Social Security tax bill next year when the cap is increased.

In 2023, the salary cap was $160,200, and in 2024 it increased by $8,400 to $168,600. This was a smaller increase than in 2022-23, when the cap increased by $13,200.