2027 COLA: Which Benefits Increase — and Which Don’t

Every fall, millions of Americans wait for one number: the annual cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA.

For 2027, that number is 3.6%.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) announced the increase on October 14, 2026. It will raise Social Security retirement, disability and Supplemental Security Income payments for roughly 76 million Americans.

But COLA reaches beyond Social Security — and this is where things can get confusing.

Some benefits rise directly because of the Social Security COLA. Some use the same inflation measure but follow different formulas. Others, including SNAP and WIC, receive completely separate annual inflation adjustments.

Here’s what the 2027 COLA means for the major benefits programs — and when you can expect changes.

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What is COLA?

COLA stands for cost-of-living adjustment.

For Social Security, the annual adjustment is based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, or CPI-W.

SSA compares the average CPI-W for July, August and September of the current year with the same three-month period used for the previous COLA. If prices have risen, Social Security benefits generally increase by the same percentage.

For 2027, that calculation produced a 3.6% COLA.

The goal is simple: help Social Security benefits retain more of their buying power as prices rise.

That does not mean every federal benefit automatically increases 3.6%. Different programs have different laws, inflation measures and update schedules.

How much is the 2027 Social Security COLA?

The 2027 COLA is 3.6%, up from the 2.8% adjustment for 2026.

SSA estimates the average retired-worker benefit will rise from about $2,095 to about $2,170 per month after the increase.

For disabled workers, the average is expected to rise from about $1,642 to about $1,701 per month.

Your own increase depends on your existing benefit amount.

For example, a $2,000 monthly benefit increased by 3.6% would rise by about $72 before deductions and Social Security's final rounding.

Social Security retirement benefits increase 3.6%

People receiving Social Security retirement benefits will receive the full 3.6% COLA.

The increase applies automatically. You do not need to file an application or request the higher amount.

Social Security benefits for December 2026 are paid in January 2027, so most beneficiaries will first see the increase in their January 2027 payment.

SSA will begin making personalized COLA notices available through my Social Security accounts in late November, with paper notices following in December.

Those notices show your exact new gross benefit and any deductions.

SSDI benefits also increase 3.6%

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) receives the same COLA as Social Security retirement benefits.

That means existing SSDI benefits will increase 3.6% for 2027.

SSA estimates the average disabled-worker benefit will rise to about $1,701 per month.

But your SSDI amount is based on your own covered earnings record, so the national average should not be treated as a personal payment estimate.

The annual COLA also does not determine every SSDI-related number. For example, Substantial Gainful Activity, work-credit amounts and the Trial Work Period threshold are adjusted using wage trends rather than simply multiplying the previous year's figure by the COLA.

SSI rises to $1,029 for an individual

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) receives the same 3.6% COLA.

The maximum federal SSI payment for 2027 will be:

These are maximum federal amounts. Your actual SSI payment can be lower depending on countable income, living arrangements and other factors.

Some states also provide their own SSI supplements.

Because January 1 is a federal holiday, the SSI payment for January 2027 will be made on December 31, 2026.

One important thing does not increase with the COLA: the federal SSI resource limit remains $2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for a couple in 2027.

VA disability benefits also get the 3.6% increase

The Department of Veterans Affairs is required by law to match the Social Security COLA for VA disability compensation.

That means VA disability compensation will also increase 3.6% for 2027.

The higher rates become effective December 1, 2026 and are reflected in payments made around the beginning of January.

The increase also affects other VA compensation programs tied to the same adjustment, including Special Monthly Compensation (SMC).

Certain survivor benefits, including Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC), are also adjusted.

VA pension rates are updated as well. BenefitKarma’s VA Pension guide explains how those payments differ from service-connected disability compensation.

Federal retirees may not all get the same 3.6%

Federal retirement benefits are a little more complicated.

Retirees under the older Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) generally receive the full CPI-based COLA.

For 2027, that means a full 3.6% adjustment for eligible CSRS retirees.

But retirees under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) use a different formula.

When the CPI increase is greater than 3%, the FERS COLA is generally 1 percentage point lower.

So with a 3.6% Social Security COLA, the full FERS adjustment is generally 2.6%, not 3.6%.

There are also age and eligibility rules for FERS COLAs, and people who retired recently may receive a prorated adjustment.

That makes federal retirement one of the clearest examples of why “the COLA is 3.6%” does not mean every benefit rises exactly 3.6%.

Military retirement pay generally follows the COLA too

Military retired pay also uses CPI-W-based cost-of-living adjustments.

For many military retirees, the 2027 increase will correspond to the 3.6% COLA.

However, the exact adjustment can depend on when you retired and which military retirement system applies to you. Recent retirees can receive prorated adjustments, and some older retirement elections use different COLA rules.

If you receive both military retired pay and VA disability benefits, remember that the two payments follow separate benefit rules even though both may receive inflation adjustments.

SNAP gets an annual increase — but it is not the Social Security COLA

This is an important correction to how these programs are often described.

SNAP benefits do receive annual cost-of-living adjustments.

But SNAP does not simply take the Social Security COLA percentage and add it to your food benefit.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture separately adjusts SNAP maximum allotments, income standards and deductions each fiscal year using its own statutory inflation calculations.

The fiscal year 2027 SNAP adjustments took effect October 1, 2026 — months before Social Security's January 2027 increase.

So both programs respond to inflation, but they are separate adjustments.

If you receive both Social Security and SNAP, your household could see changes to both programs at different times and by different percentages.

WIC also uses its own inflation adjustment

The same distinction applies to WIC.

WIC provides specific foods and nutrition support to eligible pregnant and postpartum women, infants and young children.

USDA adjusts certain WIC benefit amounts — including the cash-value benefit for fruits and vegetables — based on inflation.

Those changes are not simply the 3.6% Social Security COLA.

USDA issued separate fiscal year 2027 inflation adjustments for WIC benefits.

So it is better to think of Social Security, SNAP and WIC as three programs that all respond to rising prices, rather than three programs receiving the same COLA.

What about Medicare premiums?

Medicare does not receive a COLA.

Instead, Medicare premiums and deductibles are calculated separately each year.

That matters because many people have their Medicare Part B premium deducted directly from their Social Security payment.

A 3.6% Social Security COLA therefore does not necessarily mean the amount hitting your bank account rises by a full 3.6%.

As of the October 14 COLA announcement, the 2027 Medicare Part B premium had not yet been announced.

Once Medicare publishes that figure, Social Security beneficiaries will be able to see both their new gross benefit and Medicare deduction on their personalized COLA notices.

What is the “hold harmless” rule?

Many Social Security beneficiaries are protected by a rule commonly called the Medicare hold-harmless provision.

For people who qualify for it, an increase in the standard Part B premium generally cannot cause their net Social Security payment to decline from one year to the next.

But not everyone is protected by the rule.

For example, some higher-income beneficiaries and people who do not have their Part B premium deducted from Social Security may fall outside that protection.

Can COLA affect Medicaid eligibility?

Potentially — but there is no single national answer.

Medicaid is income-based, and eligibility rules depend on the type of Medicaid coverage and the state administering it.

Social Security and SSI payments can count as income in certain Medicaid eligibility calculations.

So when Social Security rises, your countable income may rise too.

However, Medicaid income limits can also change, and different eligibility groups use different rules.

People who receive SSI may have particularly close connections between SSI and Medicaid eligibility, depending on their state.

The takeaway is not that a COLA automatically makes you lose Medicaid. It is that anyone close to an income cutoff should check the updated limits before assuming their eligibility will stay exactly the same.

COLA can also affect housing assistance

Housing programs do not simply add 3.6% to a benefit.

Instead, programs such as Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers often calculate a household's share of rent using income.

If your Social Security income increases, your calculated household income may also rise.

That can sometimes change the amount you are expected to contribute toward rent.

Housing agencies also update allowances and other calculations separately, so the effect can vary substantially from one household to another.

When do the 2027 changes take effect?

There is no single COLA date for every benefits program.

Here is the general timeline:

Why the 2027 COLA matters

A 3.6% increase can add up over a year.

A $1,500 Social Security payment would rise by roughly $54 per month before deductions. A $2,000 benefit would rise by about $72.

But the number that matters most is not simply “3.6%.”

You also need to know which program you receive, whether that program actually uses the Social Security COLA, and whether other costs or income rules change at the same time.

Social Security, SSDI, SSI and many VA benefits directly reflect the 2027 COLA.

Federal employee retirement benefits use related but sometimes different formulas.

SNAP and WIC receive separate inflation adjustments.

Medicare premiums can affect how much of your Social Security increase you actually keep, while income-based programs such as Medicaid and housing assistance may respond to your higher benefit in different ways.

That is why each fall's COLA announcement is really the beginning of benefits-update season — not the end of it.