Retirement in the United States is always a challenge and a goal for all workers who, after years of hard work, have reached the retirement age. In this regard, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has confirmed that retirement and disability beneficiaries will see a 2.5% increase in monthly payments beginning in 2025.
The adjustment reflects the annual increase in the Cost of Living (COLA), which is calculated using the Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W).
Thus, the payment schedule established for January 2025 specifies that beneficiaries receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) will receive their first payment with an adjustment on December 31, 2024.
This advance is because January 1 is a holiday, and the Social Security Administration only processes payments on business days. For its part, the 2.5% adjustment is lower than previous years’ increases.
The COLA reached 8.7% in 2023, the highest level in four decades, as inflation became more pronounced. The recent downward trend has resulted in a more moderate adjustment for 2025, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Social Security payment schedule
According to the United States Social Security Administration, people who began receiving benefits before May 1997 will receive their payments on January 3, 2025.Payment dates for those whose benefits were approved later are as follows: The second Wednesday of the month, January 8, is for beneficiaries born between January 1 and January 10; the third Wednesday, January 15, is for those born between January 11 and January 20; and the fourth Wednesday, January 22, is for those born between January 21 and January 31.

In this way, the COLA is expected to affect not only monthly payments but also other aspects of Social Security, such as taxable income limits. In 2025, the income limit for workers reaching full retirement age will rise from USD 21,240 to USD 21,935.
However, above this threshold, the SSA deducts $1 for every $2 of additional income, so that once the full retirement age is reached, there is no penalty for earned income.
Increase in the average retirement benefit
According to the Social Security Administration, the average monthly benefit for retirees will increase from USD 1,907 to approximately USD 1,954 by January 2025. People receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) will also see a proportional increase in their benefits.
The SSA, for its part, states that the maximum benefit income for a retired worker at full retirement age will rise from USD 4,873 to USD 5,180 per month.
Beneficiaries will receive detailed notifications about their new benefit amounts via post and electronically through their personal accounts on the “my Social Security” platform.
The SSA’s Department of Labor has emphasized the importance of annual Social Security adjustments to reflect changes in the cost of living, as measured by objective data from the CPI-W.
The BLS calculates the CPI-W by measuring changes in the price of essential goods and services, ensuring that beneficiaries’ purchasing power remains constant in the face of economic fluctuations; in other words, pensioners’ purchasing power is unaffected by price increases and rising costs.
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