COLA Calculator: How Much Will Your Check Rise?

Social Security and SSI benefits go up 3.6% in 2027. The increase starts with the December 2026 benefit that Social Security pays in January 2027, and the higher January SSI payment arrives on December 31, 2026. For the average retired worker, the monthly benefit rises from $2,095 to $2,170, about $75 more. The maximum federal SSI payment rises from $994 to $1,029 for an individual and from $1,491 to $1,544 for a couple.

What lands in your bank account can be less than 3.6% more, because Medicare Part B is usually taken out of the same check, and SSI follows its own rules. The calculator below handles both.

How the 3.6% is applied to your check

Social Security doesn’t simply multiply your deposit by 1.036. It raises your primary insurance amount, the base figure your benefit is built from, by 3.6% and rounds the result down to the next lower 10 cents. Your monthly benefit is then figured from that new amount, any reductions for early claiming still apply, and the final check is rounded down to a whole dollar after all deductions.

That is why the calculator shows “about”: your official 2027 amount can differ from 3.6% of your current benefit by roughly a dollar. With a $2,095 benefit, 3.6% comes to $2,170.42, and the payable amount would be $2,170.

The same percentage applies to every kind of Social Security benefit: retirement, disability (SSDI), spouse’s, children’s and survivor benefits.

What you’ll actually receive after Medicare

If you have Medicare Part B, the premium is normally deducted from your Social Security check, so the change in your deposit is your raise minus any premium increase. The standard Part B premium is $202.90 a month in 2026. The 2027 premium hasn’t been announced yet; the 2026 Medicare Trustees Report projects $209.50, an increase of $6.60.

Using those figures, a $2,095 benefit works out like this:

The benefit rises by $75, and about $68 of it reaches the bank. If you pay a higher premium because of your income, or have a Part D premium or federal tax withheld from your check, your net change will be smaller. Medicare’s official 2027 amounts will be posted at Medicare.gov, and your exact deduction will be on your COLA notice.

How the COLA works for SSI

SSI doesn’t rise by 3.6% of your own payment. The maximum federal rate goes up by a fixed amount, $35 a month for an individual and $53 for a couple, and your payment is that rate minus your countable income. Social Security figures these 2027 rates by raising the unrounded 2026 yearly amounts by 3.6% and rounding the monthly result down to a whole dollar, as shown on its SSI payment amounts page.

If SSI is your only income, your payment rises from $994 to $1,029. If you have other income, your SSI rises by $35 only if that income stays the same.

If you get both Social Security and SSI

Your Social Security raise counts as income for SSI, so part of it is taken back in a lower SSI payment. For example, if your only other income is a $600 Social Security benefit:

Your Social Security goes up $21 and your SSI goes up $14, so the total rises by $35, the same as the increase in the SSI rate. Unless your countable income is high enough that you get little or no SSI, combining the two programs generally gives you the dollar increase in the SSI rate, not 3.6% of both checks. The calculator assumes you have no wages, because earned income is counted differently. If you live in a state that adds its own supplement, that amount is paid on top. The SSI resource limit stays at $2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for a couple.

When you’ll see the new amount

Your COLA notice shows your exact 2027 benefit and deductions. Most people can read it online in the Message Center of their my Social Security account from late November 2026, if the account was opened by November 18, 2026. If you have Medicare, your new amount is available in December, by mail and in the Message Center.

The first payment at the new rate is the one you receive in January 2027, on your usual payment date. For SSI, it’s the payment dated December 31, 2026, because January 1 is a holiday.

Other Social Security amounts that change in 2027

The 3.6% COLA comes with a set of wage-indexed limits that also change in January, published in Social Security’s 2027 fact sheet:

Under full retirement age, Social Security withholds $1 for every $2 you earn above the limit. In the year you reach full retirement age, it withholds $1 for every $3 above the higher limit, counting only the months before the month you reach it. From the month you reach full retirement age, there is no limit. If you get SSDI, the higher substantial gainful activity limit and the new trial work period amount both take effect in January 2027.

A larger benefit can also mean more of your income is taxable. The thresholds for tax on Social Security benefits are fixed in law and don’t rise with the COLA.

How the COLA is calculated

By law, the COLA equals the increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) from the third quarter of the last year a COLA took effect to the third quarter of the current year, rounded to the nearest tenth of a percent. The average CPI-W was 317.265 for July through September 2025 and 328.746 for the same months of 2026, an increase of 3.6%. Social Security’s actuaries publish the full computation. If the index doesn’t rise, there is no COLA, which happened for 2010, 2011 and 2016.

Recent COLAs, effective each January:

The 2027 increase is the largest since 2023’s 8.7%.