This page opens the calculator on military retired pay: $2,500 a month under High-3 rises 3.6% to $2,590.00, or $90 more. Enter your own gross retired pay (before the SBP premium, VA waiver, allotments and tax) and pick your plan; switch to CSB/REDUX to see the one-point-smaller raise.
Where the 3.6% comes from
By law, retired pay rises every December 1 by the increase in the CPI-W from one July–September quarter to the next, rounded to a tenth of a percent: the same index and the same 3.6% that Social Security announced. DoD confirms the figure in its yearly COLA memo, and it wasn’t out when we checked on October 22, 2026, so DFAS has the final word on the exact amount. The law rounds retired pay down to the dollar, and the calculator does the same.
Retired this year
If you retired during 2026, your first COLA is smaller, so you don’t get both a new pay table and a full year’s inflation. Under High-3 and BRS it is the CPI-W rise from the quarter before your retirement took effect to July–September 2026; CSB/REDUX takes 0.25 point off for each quarter in between; Final Pay counts from October–December 2025, the quarter before the January pay table. None can be more than the full rate. Pick the quarter in “Retirement took effect” and the calculator applies it:
| Retirement took effect | High-3 and BRS | CSB/REDUX | Final Pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 or earlier | 3.6% | 2.6% | 3.6% |
| January 1 – March 31, 2026 | up to 3.6%, DoD to publish | up to 2.6%, DoD to publish | up to 3.6%, DoD to publish |
| April 1 – June 30, 2026 | 2.6% | 2.1% | up to 3.6%, DoD to publish |
| July 1 – September 30, 2026 | 0.4% | 0.1% | up to 3.6%, DoD to publish |
| October 1 – December 31, 2026 | 0.0% | 0.0% | up to 3.6%, DoD to publish |
These are our estimates from BLS’s CPI-W, worked out the way DoD’s memos do: the same method gives every figure in DoD’s tables for the December 2021, December 2022, December 2023, December 2024 and December 2025 COLAs. BLS published no CPI-W for October 2025, during the lapse in appropriations, so the rows that start from October–December 2025 wait for DoD’s memo, due in December; until then the calculator shows the full rate, the most they can be.
VA compensation
VA disability compensation has its own rule: it rises by the Social Security percentage, also 3.6% for 2027. The VA disability COLA page estimates the new VA rates.
Retired pay before and after the 2027 COLA
| Retired pay, 2026 | High-3, BRS, Final Pay (3.6%) | CSB/REDUX (2.6%) |
|---|---|---|
| $1,500.00 | $1,554.00 | $1,539.00 |
| $2,500.00 | $2,590.00 | $2,565.00 |
| $3,500.00 | $3,626.00 | $3,591.00 |
| $5,000.00 | $5,180.00 | $5,130.00 |
Full-year COLA, rounded down to the dollar as 10 U.S.C. 1412 requires. Retirees are paid the December amount on December 31, 2026, SBP annuitants on January 4, 2027 (DFAS pay schedule). Checked October 22, 2026. Sources: 10 U.S.C. 1401a, 10 U.S.C. 1412; DFAS, CSB/REDUX and Retired pay schedule; DoD, Retirement Cost of Living Adjustments and its yearly COLA memos; SSA, Latest Cost-of-Living Adjustment; BLS, CPI-W series CWUR0000SA0 and 2025 lapse in appropriations: impact on the CPI (no October 2025 index).