By The Star Staff
Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments will increase by 2.5% in 2025 for more than 72.5 million people in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, the Social Security Administration announced Thursday.
On average, Social Security retirement benefits will increase by more than $50 a month starting in January.
Over the past decade, the average cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) increase has been about 2.6%. In 2024, the COLA was 3.2%.
Nearly 68 million Social Security beneficiaries will see a 2.5% COLA adjustment starting in January. The increase in payments for almost 7.5 million SSI beneficiaries will begin on December 31 of this year. Some people receive both Social Security and SSI benefits.
“Social Security benefits and SSI payments will increase in 2025, and this will help millions of people keep up with expenses as inflation has begun to decline,” Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley said.
Some of the other adjustments that take effect in January of each year are based on rising average wages. Based on that increase, the maximum amount of earnings subject to Social Security tax (taxable maximum) will increase from $168,600 to $176,100.
In early December, Social Security will begin notifying people by mail about their new benefit amount.
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