Social Security Recipients To Receive Lower COLA For 2024

If you are on social security, you got a nice raise at the beginning of the year. Recipients of benefits saw the largest cost of living adjustment (COLA) in 40 years in their benefit checks for 2023…an increase of 8.7%. That equaled up to an increase of around $146 a month on average. The Social Security Administration says don’t expect that much of an increase for 2024. Experts say the increase in January will be more in the lines of a 3-3.5% increase. For someone who gets a social security check of $1500, you’ll see an increase of somewhere between $45-50 on your checks for 2024. The Cost of Living adjustment is based on the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). The last time there was as big an increase in social security’s cost of living adjustment was in 1981 when it was increased to 11.2%. The highest ever was 14.3% in 1980 at the height of the economic downturn during the Carter administration.