Social Security and SSI payments will rise 3.6% from January 2027

Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments will rise 3.6% from January 2027, under the cost-of-living adjustment set out in a Social Security Administration notice in the Federal Register on October 26. The increase takes effect for December 2026 benefits, which are paid in January 2027 and after.

It is the largest annual adjustment since the 8.7% increase for 2023, and up from 2.8% for 2026, according to the agency's notices for each year.

How the 3.6% was calculated

The adjustment is based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), which the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes every month. The agency compares the average of the index for July, August and September with the average for the same quarter a year earlier.

The notice gives the third-quarter average as 328.746 in 2026, against 317.265 in 2025, an increase of 3.6%. The September figure, which completed the quarter, came out on October 14 in a report that showed the broader all-items index up 3.7% over the year, with gasoline accounting for over half of September's monthly rise. Our report on September prices has the details.

What changes for people receiving benefits

Monthly benefits rise by 3.6% for everyone eligible for December 2026 benefits. As an illustration, a retiree receiving $2,000 a month would get about $72 more, or roughly $2,072, before the agency's rounding rules are applied.

Federal SSI benefit rates also rise by 3.6%, effective for payments made for January 2027, which the notice says will be paid on December 31, 2026. The federal rate becomes $1,029 a month for an eligible individual, up from $994, and $1,544 for an eligible individual with an eligible spouse, up from $1,491.

Medicare's Part B premium is set separately by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The agency announced the 2026 figure on November 14, 2025: a standard premium of $202.90 a month, up $17.90 from $185.00 in 2025. The 2027 Part B premium is a separate decision and is not part of the Social Security notice.

What changes for workers

The notice also raises several amounts that affect people who are still working.

The earnings test applies to people who receive benefits before their full retirement age (the notice calls it normal retirement age) and keep working. The 2027 monthly limits are equal to $25,560 a year for those under full retirement age and $67,920 a year in the year they reach it. Under full retirement age, the agency withholds $1 in benefits for every $2 earned above the annual limit. In the year a person reaches that age, it withholds $1 for every $3 above the higher limit, for the months before reaching that age.

For people receiving disability benefits, the agency ordinarily considers someone earning more than the substantial gainful activity amount to be engaging in substantial gainful activity. Separately, a trial work period month is any month in which earnings exceed $1,270 in 2027, up from $1,210.

The notice also sets the national average wage index for 2025 at $72,800.33. The notice says the cost-of-living increase and the wage index affect the other program amounts it sets out.