The Social Security Administration (SSA) announced an increase in SSA COLA for 2025. This increase applies to both the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs.
How Much is SSA COLA 2024?
Federal law requires the SSA to evaluate benefits each year and make adjustments. This is known as a cost-of-living-adjustment (or COLA for short). COLA is connected to inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers.
The Consumer Price Index is a calculation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. It measures average changes in the prices of certain consumer goods and services. For example, if prices increase due to inflation, the Consumer Price Index also increases.
Federal law calls for rules that require SSA to adjust disability and other Social Security benefits upward. Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments for more than 71 million Americans will increase by 2.5% in 2025.
The History Of COLA
According to Social Security’s website,
“Congress enacted the COLA provision as part of the 1972 Social Security Amendments, and automatic annual COLAs began in 1975. Before that, Congress enacted special legislation to increase benefits.
Beginning in 1975, Social Security started automatic annual cost-of-living allowances. The change occurred due to legislation that ties COLAs to the annual increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI-W). The change means that inflation no longer drains value from Social Security benefits.”
Will Disability Benefits Increase in 2025?
The Social Security Administration recently announced that benefits will increase by 2.5% in 2025. The higher payments will begin as of December 31, 2024. This is a notable decrease from last year when benefits increased by a historic 3.7%. The decrease follows the historic increases Americans received in 2022 and 2023 as a result of persistent growth in inflation.
Individuals receiving SSI or SSDI are typically notified of the increase by mail in early December. If you don’t receive anything in the mail, you can access the notice via the Message Center on your online Social Security Account.
Below, you can see a chart outlining the historic COLA increases since 1975.
Disability Lawyers in Greensboro, NC
This content is provided by the disability lawyers at Collins Price, PLLC. For over a decade, we’ve successfully (and personally) represented thousands of claimants seeking disability benefits. Our attorneys work with claimants at every stage of the process from initial application to denials, to hearings and appeals. We take pride in being accessible to our clients and in our strong track record of successfully resolving SSI and SSDI claims for deserving claimants.
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