US Social Security benefits rise 3.6% in 2027

Nearly 72 million Social Security beneficiaries will receive higher payments beginning in January 2027 under a 3.6% cost-of-living adjustment announced by the Social Security Administration. The increase will add an average of $75 a month to retirement benefits, The Guardian reported.

The adjustment also applies to Supplemental Security Income, or SSI. Approximately 7.3 million SSI recipients will receive increased payments starting December 31, 2026, according to The Guardian, citing the agency. Al Jazeera gave a substantially different figure, reporting nearly 73 million SSI recipients. Social Security Commissioner Frank J. Bisignano said the adjustment would cover 76 million Americans overall.

“Social Security will implement this cost-of-living adjustment for 76 million Americans, giving them greater financial stability,” Bisignano said, according to The Guardian.

The 3.6% increase is a four-year high and exceeds the 2.8% adjustment for 2026, Al Jazeera reported. The agency announced the figure after the Bureau of Labor Statistics published its September consumer price index data.

The annual adjustment is based on the consumer price index for urban wage earners and clerical workers, known as CPI-W. That index rose 3.9% in September and averaged about 3.6% across July, August and September, the three months used to set the increase, according to Al Jazeera.

The Guardian, citing Bureau of Labor Statistics figures, reported that broader consumer prices rose 3.7% over the year through September, up from 3.4% in August. Gasoline prices were 34% higher than a year earlier and accounted for more than half of the overall price increase, the newspaper reported. Fuel oil prices rose 74%, while air travel prices increased 22.4%.

Higher benefits may still fall short of some recipients’ expenses. The Guardian reported that Social Security increases often fail to cover rising healthcare, housing and prescription drug costs, particularly for older people. “Seniors have spent years watching their expenses outpacing their benefits,” Shannon Benton, director of the advocacy group Senior Citizens League, told NBC, according to The Guardian. “This provides a little breathing room but won’t undo the damage of what we’ve seen this decade.”

A September AARP poll found that about three-quarters of adults aged 50 or older disagreed that a proposed 3.5% adjustment for 2027 would be enough to keep pace with rising prices, Al Jazeera reported.

The maximum amount of earnings subject to Social Security tax is slated to rise to $192,300 in 2027 from $184,500 in 2026, according to Al Jazeera.

The announcement comes amid broader concerns about household costs. A Pew Research survey found that 44% of Americans had struggled to afford at least one basic necessity over the past year, including medical care, transportation, housing or food, The Guardian reported. The survey also found that 61% believed there was too much economic inequality in the United States.