Benefit checks, adjusted each year for inflation, could see their smallest increase since 2020, a senior citizen's group says.
Seniors and millions of others on Social Security get an annual cost-of-living adjustment that's geared toward aligning their monthly checks with inflation. Next year, that COLA could be 3% — or even lower — based on recent inflationary trends, according to an early estimate from the Senior Citizens League.
That 12-month average has been declining, even when inflation increased month-to-month as it did in January, she noted. Although inflation trends could change, price increases are now easing despite remaining well above the Federal Reserve's target of 2% annually. "It's important to remember that inflation was at the highest level in 40 years in 2022," Johnson noted."For there to even be a COLA [in 2024], inflation would have to exceed that."
She added,"I'm hoping to find some improvement in buying power, but the slow moderation in prices may not have too much of an effect so early in the year."in February, cooling from the prior month yet still stubbornly high. The CPI-W rose at an annual rate of 5.8% last month, according to the latest government data.
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