Data from TSCL’s 2024 Senior Survey shows 62% of older Americans worry their retirement income won’t even cover essentials such as groceries and medical bills. Will 2026's COLA increase help?

The non-partisan advocacy group The Senior Citizens League predicts the 2026 COLA will be 2.1%, based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ CPI-W, the index used to calculate the annual increase. December’s CPI-W came in at 2.8%. Getty Images

What's more, surveys have shown that Social Security checks are necessary for seniors to make ends meet. A poll from nonpartisan senior advocacy group The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) found that 67% of seniors rely on Social Security for more than half of their annual income.

For retirees, healthcare expenses are unavoidable and increasingly unaffordable. Fidelity Research says a 65-year-old retiring in 2024 can expect to spend an average of $165,000 on healthcare and medical expenses throughout retirement — a 5% jump over the previous year and more than double 2002’s estimate.

Social Security benefits received a 2.5% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in 2025, but for many retirees, this is not enough to keep up with rising prices. Their monthly checks don't go as far as they used to,

The cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) applied to Social Security payments in any given year is based on CPI-W inflation from the third quarter of the previous year. In that sense, COLAs are a reimbursement mechanism to compensate retirees for the buying power benefits lost in the previous year.

If you receive Social Security benefits, you are getting a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) this year. This means your retirement benefits check is going to be bigger than it was before. That's the good news.