October 13, 2021

The Social Security Administration (SSA) announced that more than 70 million American will receive a 5.9 percent increase in their Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments in 2022.

The 5.9 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will begin with benefits payable to more than 64 million Social Security beneficiaries in January 2022. Increased payments to approximately 8 million SSI beneficiaries will begin on December 30, 2021. 

In December, the SSA will mail COLA notices to retirement, survivors, and disability beneficiaries, SSI recipients, and representative payees to be notified of the changes. Information about Medicare changes for 2022, when announced, will be available at www.medicare.gov.  

The purpose of the COLA is to ensure that the purchasing power of Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits is not eroded by inflation. It is based on the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) from the third quarter of the last year a COLA was determined to the third quarter of the current year. If there is no increase, there can be no COLA. 

For more information about the SSA COLA announcement, please visit www.ssa.gov/cola.