Most years around this time, Social Security would announce its annual Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) to Social Security beneficiaries, but due to the partial government shutdown that announcement has been delayed and Social Security beneficiaries, including retirement, disability, and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients, will have to wait longer to see how much their benefits will increase in 2026.

The agency’s COLA is based on consumer inflation data based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers from the third quarter of 2024 to the third quarter of 2025. Typically, the COLA announcement is made after the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases September’s CPI report, but the shutdown has caused delays in collection and publication of economic data due to the lack of government funding. A year ago, the more than 72 million Social Security and SSI beneficiaries received a COLA increase of 2.5 percent.

It is unclear how long it will take Social Security to issue its COLA announcement because the government shutdown has extended into a second week. The Senior Citizens League has done its own estimates and has projected a 2.7 percent COLA increase in 2026 according to available data.