After the most recent inflation data indicated that prices grew more than projected in the previous month, the older adults League, a non-profit organization that advocates for older adults, increased its estimate for the Social Security Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) for 2024 to 3.2%, up from 3%.
A rise of 3.2% would bring the typical retiree’s monthly payout up to $1,847, an increase of $57.30.
That would be a somewhat lesser shift than last year’s lift of 8.7%, which is a four-decade high, but it would still be significantly higher than the average growth over the past 20 years, which is 2.6%.
The cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) is computed by taking the average of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) for the months of July, August, and September.
The increase in the CPI-W on a yearly basis was reported to be 3.2% by the Labor Department in July, and data that was published today revealed that the increase in August was 3.4%. The Consumer Price Index for Women increased by 9.1% in July of the previous year, and it increased by 8.7% in the following month.
The COLA figure for 2024 is not likely to be released by the Social Security Administration until the middle of the month of October. The new cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will be included in the Social Security payments that are sent in the month of January.
