Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA)               

The cost-of-living adjustment for social security benefits for 2022 is 5.9%, the largest increase since 1982 when it rose to 7.4%. 

Based on the increase, the maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security tax (taxable maximum) will increase to $147,000 from $142,800. 

The increase reflects the rebound of consumer prices that were depressed during the pandemic. Social Security COLAs are calculated using the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. If prices don’t increase or fall, the COLA would remain at zero. That happened in 2010 and 2011, as the economy struggled to recover from the Great Recession, and again in 2016 when plummeting oil prices wiped out the COLA for that year. The COLA for 2021 was 1.3%.  

You should be notified of your new benefit amount by mail in early December. 

Press Release from the Social Security Administration

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