2 weeks Ago By ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — About 70.6 million Social Security recipients are expected to receive a smaller cost-of-living increase for 2025 than in recent years, as inflation has moderated. The Social Security Administration will make the official COLA announcement Thursday, and analysts predicted in advance it would be 2.
5% for 2025. Recipients received a 3.2% increase in their benefits in 2024 after a historically large 8.
7% benefit increase in 2023, brought on by record 40-year-high inflation. The AARP estimates a 2.5% COLA would increase the average benefit for a retiree who receives about $1,920 a month by $48 a month starting in January 2025.
The national social insurance plan faces a financial shortfall in coming years. The announcement comes as the national social insurance plan faces a severe financial shortfall in the coming years. The annual Social Security and Medicare trustees report released in May said the program's trust fund will be unable to pay full benefits beginning in 2035.
If the trust fund is depleted, the government will be able to pay only 83% of scheduled benefits, the report said..
