Social Security recipients get annual cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) to help protect the buying power of benefits from inflation. Fallout from the pandemic led to particularly high inflation in recent years, so much so that retired workers received an 8.7% COLA in 2023, one of the largest raises in program history.

But benefits increased just 3.2% in 2024 as consumer price increases moderated, and the 2025 COLA could be even smaller.

Policy analyst Mary Johnson of The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) recently revised her 2025 COLA forecast upward to 2.4% after inflation reaccelerated in February. Her estimate now matches the forecast from the Social Security Board of Trustees, and it roughly aligns with the 2.5% COLA projected by the Congressional Budget Office. But Social Security recipients might be unhappy with either prediction.

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Source Fool.com