COLA

Social Security Benefits Increase in 2022

October 13, 2021 • By

Reading Time: 2 Minutes

Last Updated: November 2, 2023

Approximately 70 million Americans will see a 5.9% increase in their Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments in 2022. Federal benefit rates increase when the cost-of-living rises, as measured by the Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index (CPI-W).

The CPI-W rises when inflation increases, leading to a higher cost-of-living. This change means prices for goods and services, on average, are a little more expensive, so the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) helps to offset these costs.

We will mail COLA notices throughout the month of December to retirement, survivors, and disability beneficiaries, SSI recipients, and representative payees. But, if you want to know your new benefit amount sooner, you can securely obtain your Social Security COLA notice online using the Message Center in your my Social Security account. You can access this information in early December prior to the mailed notice.

If you prefer to access your COLA notice online and not receive the mailed notice, you can log in to your personal my Social Security account to opt out of a mailed COLA notice and any other notices that are available online by updating your Preferences in the Message Center. Did you know you can receive a text or email alert when there is a new message waiting for you? That way, you always know when we have something important for you – like your COLA notice. If you don’t have an account yet, you must create one by November 17, 2021, to receive the 2022 COLA notice online.

January 2022 marks other changes that will happen based on the increase in the national average wage index. For example, the maximum amount of earnings subject to Social Security payroll tax in 2022 will be higher. The retirement earnings test exempt amount will also change in 2022.

Be among the first to know! Sign up for or log in to your personal my Social Security account today. Choose email or text under “Message Center Preferences” to receive courtesy notifications.

You can find more information about the 2022 COLA here.

 

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About the Author

Darlynda Bogle, Acting Deputy Commissioner for Communications

Darlynda Bogle, Acting Deputy Commissioner for Communications

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Comments

  1. Aaron D.

    How Much I’m Getting For 2022

    • V.V.

      Hi Aaron, thanks for reading our blog and for your question. If you’re asking about your benefit amount for 2022, we will notify you by mail starting in early December about your new benefit amount. Most people who receive Social Security payments will be able to view their COLA notice online through their personal my Social Security account. You may create or access your my Social Security account online at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/myaccount. We hope this helps!

  2. Jose

    Confused, published CPI for 3rd quarter 2021 are 5.4, 5.3 and 5.4. average is close to 5.4. 5.9 is great, did they change computation?

    • V.V.

      Hi Jose, thanks for using our blog. Check out our Latest Cost-of-Living Adjustment web page for specific details on the calculation. We hope this helps!

  3. MEL W.

    If elections weren’t in jeopardy there would be a much smaller increase.

    • Candice

      This mentions SSI but not SSDI. Will SSDI recipients see the same increase in their payments?

      • Kim T.

        Exactly❤

      • T.witt

        Everyone gets an increase across the board

      • Betty G.

        yes, SS failed to specifically mention folks receiving SSDI, social security disability insurance, payments to RECEIVE 5.9% also.

        SS needs to answer this immediately for thousands receiving ssdi.

        otherwise it is “assumed” it will be; never guess !
        thank you.
        betty gordon, iowa

        • V.V.

          Hi Betty. All monthly Social Security (retirement, disability and survivors) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for approximately 70 million Americans will see a 5.9% increase in their Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments in 2022.

          The 5.9 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will begin with benefits payable to more than 64 million Social Security beneficiaries in January 2022.  Increased payments to approximately 8 million SSI beneficiaries will begin on December 30, 2021. 

          For more details about the new COLA, visit our Cost-of-Living Adjustment information page.

      • V.V.

        Hi Candice, thanks for using our blog to ask your question. All monthly Social Security (retirement, disability and survivors) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for approximately 70 million Americans will see a 5.9% increase in their Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments in 2022.

        The 5.9 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will begin with benefits payable to more than 64 million Social Security beneficiaries in January 2022.  Increased payments to approximately 8 million SSI beneficiaries will begin on December 30, 2021. 

        For more details about the new COLA, visit our Cost-of-Living Adjustment information page.

        • Larry

          I receive both ssdi and ssi. Will both my checks get an increase or just ssdi?

          • V.V.

            Hi Larry, thank you for your question. All monthly Social Security (retirement, disability and survivors) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for approximately 70 million Americans will see a 5.9% increase in their Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments in 2022.

            The 5.9 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will begin with benefits payable to more than 64 million Social Security beneficiaries in January 2022.  Increased payments to approximately 8 million SSI beneficiaries will begin on December 30, 2021. 

            For more details about the new COLA, visit our Cost-of-Living Adjustment information page.

    • Anne M.

      now watch, Medicare will increase by 6%!

      • Janice R.

        That and everything else.

      • Karen B.

        It’s projected to increase about $10. monthly, but we all know that the figure can change. Hopefully it won’t.

        • Jeanne H.

          Medicare part B was $148.00 month. In 2022 it going up to $170.00 a month.
          At least that’s what they have said in the news feeds I’ve read.

      • Alan P.

        It’s projected to go up by 14.5 percent from what I’ve heard. So much for the COLA we are getting

  4. Gayle N.

    I am not collecting SS, was going to file in one year. But with the 5.9% COLA, that would be the same amount. Should I file now or does the forecasted amount also increase 5.9%?

    • Sherry S.

      I have that same question!

      • V.V.

        Hi Sherry. If you are an insured worker, you are eligible for Social Security retirement benefits when you reach age 62. Regardless of when you choose to begin receiving Social Security retirement benefits, your monthly benefit amount will include all cost-of-living increases starting with December of the year you attain age 62. Check out our Social Security Benefit Amounts web page for more details. We hope this is helpful.

        • Sherry S.

          That didn’t answer the question of ‘do I need to be receiving SS, or does the increase also apply to the SS forcasted amount that I will get in the future?’ I wanted to wait till next year to start receiving payments, but if I start now, the 5.9% increase would actually be a little more than if I start receiving benefits next year.

          • V.V.

            Hi Sherry, You’re eligible for cost-of-living benefit increases starting with the year you become age 62. This is true even if you don’t get benefits until your full retirement age or even age 70. We add cost-of-living increases to your benefit beginning with the year you reach 62. Benefits are adjusted yearly to reflect the increase. Check out our publication for details on How Your Retirement Benefit is Figured.

    • T. W.

      Are you currently working ? If not then you need to first evaluate how many work credits you have. If you have lost your work credits because you have been out of work too long you’re no longer eligible for SSDI and only eligible for SSI if you’re found disabled first and indigent after that meaning you have no assets, no bank accounts, property, and the list goes on. You can’t really have anything of value when you’re found eligible to be on SSI for disability first.
      As far as this new COLA increase that sticks throughout the lifetime of someone’s benefits meaning that if you’re planning to apply next year then this new COLA will be worked into the adjusted amount on your ss statement you can find online however it may not reflect that information at this time seeing recipients haven’t started receiving and won’t till next year. Typically every year there’s a increase and since they have been tracking and publicizing yearly increase percentages in spreadsheet format there’s only been roughly 3 years in the last 30 years maybe that recipients haven’t see the increase and one wasn’t that long ago when Trump first came into office he denied the proposal of an increase.

    • V.V.

      Hi Gayle, thanks for using our blog. If you are an insured worker, you are eligible for Social Security retirement benefits when you reach age 62. Regardless of when you choose to begin receiving Social Security retirement benefits, your monthly benefit amount will include all cost-of-living increases starting with December of the year you attain age 62. Check out our Social Security Benefit Amounts web page for more details. We hope this is helpful.

  5. Jackie L.

    Now that the Amount of the COLA is revealed when the Estimates in My Social Security Account be updated

  6. Janet

    Big deal every time this happens the Medicare premium goes up the same amount. The only ones who benefit from this are the ones on SDI and extra help. The rest of us get screwed on it. Only makes the tax bracket higher

    • Ed B.

      Way to go Janet!! Something is really wrong with this picture. We get a 5.9 percent raise and I just read Medicare’s going up 6.2 percent. At least Jessie James wore a mask when he rob someone!!!

    • Renee

      Exactly!!

    • Anne M.

      regular disability recipiants without the extra help or medicaid help, are in the dame boat as you. They need to pay us at least as much as burger flippers @ $15 an hour for 40 hours for all their talk about living wages…..

      • T. W.

        Then people who are on ssdi that get Foodstamps in my state they’re giving us for 1-2 people $125 a month for Covid and just increased our regular Foodstamps from 194 to $250 but after the new year our Foodstamps will automatically be adjusted right back down again just because we’re getting this 5.9 % increase its like the state against the feds! It’s a big huge god damn shift of dollars amd we’re the middle people! The feds give money to state for these programs then dole it out to us, then feds give us an increase just so that particular program has to send the money back to the feds!!! It’s a shit show and a way to make us believe that we’re actually getting help but in actuality they’re not doing anything to help us financially to be independent and make that transition back into the workplace again!! It just infuriates me greatly that my blood boils!

        • Janice R.

          And it is actually our tax dollars in the first place.

        • Renee' A.

          Yes! Exactly! It will go right back down to the same poverty level, as before covid! Whether your on SSA, SSI or SSDI, you are not getting more or over on anyone. As another has said on here, Medicare is going up too, so whatever is given, is taken right back. That also will go for the EBT program, not everyone got the 30% increase, some received 15%, as I was told. Also, as we all know, prices on food, oil, paper goods, etc. are ALL rising and have been rising, so any extra gets evaporated. So in reality, no one is getting anymore than anyone else, we are still considered poor.

  7. Katalina C.

    How much will recipients of SSI get starting in January 2022 ….. it has been $794.00….. so what will the dollar amount increase too???
    Thank you

    • V.V.

      Hi Katalina, thanks for using our blog. Check out our 2022 Social Security Changes Factsheet showing the effect of the various automatic adjustments. We hope this is helpful!

      • Sonia

        I receiving $954 a month SSI benefits in Los Angeles California it cannot pay for housing food clothing medication and other stuffs i need most of all a woman need and someone who on special diet because of her health.
        That is why lots of disabled people and the poor are homeless. Lucky for me i find affordable apartment that take me 3 years to get. Every year they go up on my rent, and anytime social security give me a raise, the rental company take my SSI increase payment from. Cost of living is high in California. The poor and the disabled cannot rent place in California. It doesn’t help me when i get SSI increase payment, because it go straight to the rental company. They go up on my rent the same amount i get increase payment. That the deal our politicians make with the rental company to give them tax credit for renting to the poor . Disparity against the poor and the disabled !

        • Kaye

          How do you get 954 in ssi. When i get the max 794 for ssi. You sure you don’t get ssd but yes agree you can’t live off what they give us a month it’s sad. Most rent is more then what we get. A month.

          • Stephanie

            Californians get a supplement to SSI.

          • Donna

            Depends on the states you live in I live in NY they told me I only get $794 I told them that not enough to pay all my bills they said sorry that the amount you get on SSI . mean while place around me is $700 and up . people on SSI in ny should get more then $794 . electricity going up gas going up I can’t pay my gas bill not the amount I get . but Immigrants get lots of money more then people on SSI I think that not fair on the people who was born in United States on ssi

    • Raymond D.

      i get in 2021 1500 a month

    • Chyna

      I think $46.00 the raise but how this is crazy.

    • BETTY G.

      $841/month

  8. ML

    Has the increased price for Part B been decided yet? That is always a concern in addition to the Medigap plan and the RX plan

    • V.V.

      Hi ML, thanks for using our blog. Information about Medicare changes for 2022, when announced, will be available at http://www.medicare.gov. For Social Security beneficiaries receiving Medicare, Social Security will not be able to compute their new benefit amount until after the Medicare premium amounts for 2022 are announced. Final 2022 benefit amounts will be communicated to beneficiaries in December through the mailed COLA notice and my Social Security’s Message Center.

    • Jeanne H.

      The news reports I read said part B is going up to $170.00 from the $148.00 it was.
      Guess we’ll just have to wait until our statements get mailed out to see what they say. Or go to SS my account page if we can’t wait for the mailing.

  9. C F.

    God Bless This Blessing!

  10. Deborah b.

    This will help out slot for me I get Ssi and it’s around 640.00 a month how much will I have with the cost of living going up thanks if anyone out there knows

    • SULLY

      $680

      • craig s.

        $677

    • BETTY G.

      $678.40

Comments are closed.