How to use the COLA calculator
- Enter your monthly benefit now and say which number it is: your benefit before Medicare is taken out (the figure on your 2026 COLA notice or benefit letter) or the amount that is deposited.
- Tell it what comes out of the check: Part B, your Part B premium in each year (standard, or an IRMAA tier if your income was higher) and any drug plan premium you have deducted.
- Read the change at the top: how much more (or less) arrives each month from January 2027. The table shows each step: the raise, the premium, and what's left.
Pick SSI at the top for Supplemental Security Income instead. Nothing you enter leaves your device; Share result makes a link that holds the numbers you entered, so only share it with people you'd tell.
The 2027 COLA: 3.6%
Social Security and SSI payments rise 3.6% in 2027, after 2.8% in 2026. The raise starts with the December 2026 benefit, paid in January 2027; SSI's January payment arrives on December 31, 2026. The law ties it to the CPI-W, the consumer price index for urban wage earners: its July–September average rose from 317.265 in 2025 to 328.746 in 2026, which is 3.6% rounded to a tenth.
| Benefit before deductions, 2026 | After the 3.6% COLA | Raise a month |
|---|---|---|
| $1,000.00 | $1,036.00 | +$36.00 |
| $1,500.00 | $1,554.00 | +$54.00 |
| $2,000.00 | $2,072.00 | +$72.00 |
| $2,500.00 | $2,590.00 | +$90.00 |
| $3,000.00 | $3,108.00 | +$108.00 |
| $4,000.00 | $4,144.00 | +$144.00 |
Why the deposit rises by less
The COLA is applied to your full benefit, but most people with Medicare have the Part B premium taken out before the money arrives. Whatever the premium rises by comes straight out of the raise. In 2026 the standard premium is $202.90 a month. As of October 18, 2026, CMS had not announced the 2027 premium (it usually does in November), so the calculator uses $202.90 and labels it provisional. If you know or expect a different figure, type it into the 2027 standard premium field: on a $2,000.00 benefit the raise is $72.00, so a premium rise of $15 would leave about $57.00 of it.
If your income was higher, IRMAA adds to the premium, and a new IRMAA tier in 2027 can take more than the raise. The 2027 tier comes from your 2025 tax return; the IRMAA calculator finds it, with the distance to the next bracket.
The hold-harmless rule protects most people on the standard premium: if Part B comes out of your benefit and its rise is bigger than your dollar raise, the premium only goes up as much as the raise, so the check never shrinks. It doesn't cover people who pay IRMAA, are new to Part B, or have their premium paid by Medicaid. The calculator applies it when your choices meet those conditions.
SSI in 2027
The federal SSI maximum goes from $994 to $1,029 a month for an individual and from $1,491 to $1,544 for an eligible couple. Your payment is that maximum minus your countable income. Social Security doesn't count the first $20 of most income, or the first $65 of wages and half of the wages above that. A Social Security benefit counts as income, and it rises by the COLA as well, so people who get both see a smaller SSI increase than the maximum's.
Reading your COLA notice
Social Security posts COLA notices in the Message Center of my Social Security accounts from late November 2026 and mails them in December. The notice lists your new benefit, each deduction and the new payment, and it is the exact figure: this calculator applies 3.6% to the amount you enter and rounds the way Social Security describes (the benefit down to the dime, the payment after Part B down to the dollar, POMS RS 00601.020), but SSA starts from its own unrounded figures, so the notice can differ slightly. Put the first new payment date on a printable calendar, and if you're comparing what savings earn against the raise, the interest calculator helps.
Sources, checked October 18, 2026: SSA, Latest Cost-of-Living Adjustment and COLA Information for 2027; SSA, SSI Federal Payment Amounts for 2027 and Understanding SSI: Income; CMS, 2026 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles; SSA, How the Hold Harmless Provision Protects Your Benefits.