October is the time of year when the Social Security Administration announces the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) Social Security retirement and disability beneficiaries can expect the following year. In 2023 the COLA increase is expected to be one of the largest increases in benefits in decades time due to high inflation.
The annual COLA increases are used by Social Security to help Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients keep up with the cost of inflation. It is projected that the 2023 increase will be about 8.7 percent, based on projections from the Senior Citizen’s League. That means that Social Security and SSI beneficiaries will see a significant increase in monthly benefit amounts in 2023 based on recent increases in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), which is used to determine annual COLA increases each year.
The average Social Security beneficiary receives about $1,656 per month. Based on the projections the average beneficiary will see about a $144 increase in their monthly benefit amount in 2023. The official announcement on COLA numbers for 2023 is expected to be released by mid-October 2022.
