2027 COLA Is Confirmed at 3.6%: Your Raise, Worked

When I wrote about this raise on October 6, the 2027 cost-of-living adjustment was still an estimate, somewhere between 3.4 and 3.6 percent. It is not an estimate anymore. The Social Security Administration announced on October 14 that the 2027 COLA is 3.6 percent, based on the rise in the CPI-W from the third quarter of 2025 through the third quarter of 2026. This is the follow-up I promised in that October estimate piece: the confirmed numbers, worked at three benefit levels, and the one November deadline attached to them.

The confirmed averages

The SSA's own estimates for January 2027 put the average retired worker at $2,095 a month before the COLA and $2,170 after it, a raise of $75 a month, or $900 a year on my multiplication. The average disabled worker goes from $1,642 to $1,701, a raise of $59. The maximum benefit for a worker retiring at full retirement age in 2027 is $4,188 a month.

Estimated average monthly benefits before and after the confirmed 3.6 percent COLA. Source: SSA, 2027 COLA Fact Sheet.

Your raise, worked at three levels

The percentage is the same for everyone; the dollars depend on where you start. Multiply your current monthly benefit by 1.036.

Your current benefit	January 2027 benefit	Monthly raise	Yearly raise
$1,500	$1,554	$54	$648
$2,095 (average retired worker)	$2,170	$75	$900
$3,000	$3,108	$108	$1,296

Those are gross figures, before anything is deducted. If your Medicare Part B premium comes out of your check, the net raise is smaller. The 2027 standard Part B premium had not been announced as of late October, and CMS usually publishes it in November. The Medicare trustees' projection, which I used in October, is $209.50, up $6.60 from the 2026 premium of $202.90. On that scenario, the average retired worker's net raise is $75 minus $6.60, or $68.40 a month. Budget with $68.40 and treat a lower official premium as a small win when it lands. If you are still working while collecting, the separate 2026 earnings-test rules still govern this year's checks; the COLA math above is about January.

If you receive SSI, your date is earlier

Supplemental Security Income follows the same 3.6 percent adjustment on a different calendar. SSA's fact sheet sets the 2027 federal maximum at $1,029 a month for an individual and $1,544 for a couple, and the increased SSI payment arrives on December 31, 2026, one day before the January Social Security payments begin. If your household combines SSI with a retirement or disability benefit, both lines rise by the same percentage, but they land on different days and they are verified in different notices. Check each one separately against the 1.036 multiplication, rather than checking the combined deposit, because a combined figure can hide an error in either part.

The other confirmed numbers in the same fact sheet

The fact sheet moved more than the COLA. The maximum earnings subject to Social Security tax rise from $184,500 in 2026 to $192,300 in 2027. On my arithmetic, a worker earning at or above the cap pays 6.2 percent on an extra $7,800, which is $483.60 more in OASDI tax across 2027. The tax rates themselves do not change: 7.65 percent for employees and 15.30 percent for the self-employed. If you are comparing health coverage for next year at the same time, my HDHP versus PPO total-cost math uses the same confirmed-2027 approach: no projected premiums presented as fact.

Do this by November 18: get your COLA notice online

SSA posts individual COLA notices in my Social Security accounts starting in late November. Reporting on SSA's notice schedule notes that people who want the notice online, paperless, need an account with paperless delivery set up by November 18; after that, the notice comes by mail in December instead. The check itself does not depend on this, your January payment rises either way. What depends on it is how fast you can verify that SSA's new amount matches your own 1.036 multiplication, and catch an error while it is still a letter-writing problem rather than a budget problem. Five minutes this week: sign in, confirm paperless delivery, and write your expected January figure next to your current one. When the notice posts, compare. That comparison is the entire task, and it is the cheapest verification in personal finance.