Enter your numbers
Gross amount before deductions. Two fields are enough to start.
Gross amount, before Medicare is taken out. Not sure? Check your 2026 COLA letter or your my Social Security account.
More options COLA %, Medicare Part B premium
Status on Oct 9, 2026: the official figure has not been released yet (expected Oct 14). Pick a scenario or type your own:
Standard premium is $202.90. Use 0 if Medicare is not deducted from your check.
Leave empty to assume it stays the same.
Your 2027 monthly amount (estimate)
Projected$2,143.00 /month
Monthly amount at the COLA you chose
Scenarios: what you would get if the official COLA lands 0.4 points lower or higher than the one used. They are not forecasts.
Estimate, not official yet: SSA is expected to announce the 2027 COLA on Oct 14, 2026.
The official 2027 COLA has not been announced yet; SSA is expected to release it on Wednesday, October 14, 2026. Until then this page uses our estimate of 3.5%, worked out from the CPI-W figures BLS has already published (see “Estimate the COLA yourself from CPI-W” below). It is not an official SSA/VA/OPM figure. You can type any other percentage under More options.
Need just one benefit?
These pages go deeper on a single program:
- VA disability COLA 2027 calculatorBy rating and dependents, from the 2026 VA rate table
- FERS & CSRS COLA 2027 calculatorDiet-COLA rule, first-year proration and the age-62 rule
- SSI 2027 payment amountNew federal maximums and your own check after income
Worked example
A $2,071 Social Security benefit at the 3.5% estimate: $2,071 × 1.035 = $2,143.49, which SSA pays rounded down to $2,143 a month, $72 more. If the Part B premium stays at $202.90, all of that raise reaches your bank account.
Short answer (as of ): the 2027 COLA has not been announced; SSA is expected to publish it on October 14, 2026. Our estimate from BLS CPI-W data is 3.5% (projected, not official), which would raise a $2,071 Social Security benefit to about $2,143 a month starting with the January 2027 payment.
Estimate the COLA yourself from CPI-W
The COLA is not a forecast or a vote. It falls straight out of three inflation numbers. Fill in the CPI-W index values for July, August and September 2026 from the BLS and the official percentage pops out. July and August are already published; September comes out on October 14.
If empty, we assume September grows at the same year-over-year pace as August (3.5%). That is only a scenario.
Type in what you get today and see what your check should look like in January 2027. It works for Social Security, SSI, VA disability, and federal CSRS/FERS annuities. Everything runs in your browser; nothing you type is sent anywhere.
How the 2027 COLA works, in plain English
Every October the Social Security Administration compares the average CPI-W (the price index for urban wage earners and clerical workers) for July, August and September with the same three months of the last year a COLA was paid. The percentage gap, rounded to one decimal place, is the cost-of-living adjustment. For 2027 the comparison point is the third quarter of 2025, whose average was 317.265. That is why last year's raise came out at 2.8%.
The raise first lands in the payment you receive in January 2027. Because January 1 is a holiday, SSI and some older beneficiaries get that January payment on December 31, 2026.
What the calculator does for each benefit type
| Benefit | How the 2027 amount is worked out here |
|---|---|
| Social Security | Your amount × (1 + COLA), then rounded down to the whole dollar, which is how SSA pays benefits. SSA actually applies the COLA to your unrounded base figure, so your letter may differ by a dollar. |
| SSI | Uses SSA's published unrounded 2026 annual amounts ($11,929.46 individual, $17,892.21 couple), applies the COLA, divides by 12 and rounds down. This is the federal maximum before any state supplement or income reduction. To include your income, see SSI 2027 payment amount. |
| VA disability | Your rate × (1 + COLA). By law the veterans' COLA is normally set equal to the Social Security COLA. For a rating-by-rating estimate, use the VA COLA calculator. |
| CSRS | Full COLA. |
| FERS | COLA up to 2% → same; between 2% and 3% → 2%; above 3% → COLA minus 1 point. Most FERS retirees under 62 do not get it yet. Details and proration: FERS COLA calculator. |
Why your deposit may not grow by the full amount
If Medicare Part B is taken out of your Social Security, a higher premium in 2027 eats part of the raise. Type both premiums in to see the change in what actually reaches your bank account. People with higher incomes also pay IRMAA surcharges; just add those to the premium fields.
Frequently asked questions
When is the 2027 COLA announced?
It is expected on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, right after the BLS publishes September inflation data at 8:30 a.m. ET. This page will be updated with the official figure.
How is the COLA calculated?
It is the percentage increase in the July–September average CPI-W over the 2025 third-quarter average (317.265), rounded to the nearest tenth of a percent. You can redo the math in the CPI-W box above.
When will I see the higher payment?
With your January 2027 payment. SSI recipients get the January payment on December 31, 2026.
Does the FERS COLA match Social Security?
Not always. CSRS gets the full COLA; FERS is capped as shown in the table above, and usually only starts at age 62.
Will the Medicare Part B premium eat my raise?
It can take part of it. The standard premium is $202.90 a month in 2026. CMS announces the 2027 premium separately, usually in the fall.
Is this an official government tool?
No. It is an independent calculator for planning. Your official new amount will be in the COLA notice from SSA, VA or OPM.
Sources
- SSA, Latest Cost-of-Living Adjustment (2025 Q3 CPI-W average 317.265)
- SSA, SSI Federal Payment Amounts for 2026
- BLS CPI-W series CWUR0000SA0 (July 2026: 327.104, August 2026: 328.481)
- CMS, 2026 Medicare Parts A & B premiums
- Pre-announcement forecasts from AARP (3.6%) and The Senior Citizens League (3.5%) as reported in September–October 2026; they are estimates, not the official number.