In order to ensure that benefits keep up with inflation, the Social Security Administration (SSA) typically makes a cost of living adjustment (COLA) each year. For 2025, the SSA has delivered a 2.5% COLA -- and the benefit increase appears to be getting mixed reviews from retirees.

The Social Security COLA increase for 2025 is finally here, and so is your boosted benefits check. Here's when you can expect it.

Recipients of Social Security received an increase in benefits in 2025, as they do every year. However, new economic data and policies could spell trouble.

What's more, surveys have shown that Social Security checks are necessary for seniors to make ends meet. A poll from nonpartisan senior advocacy group The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) found that 67% of seniors rely on Social Security for more than half of their annual income.

Social Security’s cost-of-living adjustment is expected to shrink in 2026 and could be the lowest increase seen in a decade.

When you are on  Social Security, you can expect your retirement benefits to increase during most years. That’s because Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs) typically happen automatically from year to year.

Forget about COLAs for a minute -- because Social Security itself has some big problems. More money is being paid out of its coffers than is coming into them, so the program's surplus is shrinking -- and is expected to be depleted in 2035.