The Social Security Administration will officially announce the 2025 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) on Oct. 10, 2024. It might seem like an arbitrary date to you, but it's not. That's when the government releases the September figure for the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W).

Below are the latest expert predictions for what the 2025 COLA could be as of September 2024. For more, don't miss how to apply for Supplemental Security Income and how to estimate how much in Social Security benefits you could receive .

The latest cost-of-living-adjustment estimate for Social Security benefits next year is expected to be about 2.5%, according to the nonpartisan Senior Citizens League

The Social Security Administration will only withhold taxes from your monthly checks if you ask it to, and then only in preset percentages ranging from 7% to 22%. But whether the SSA withholds taxes from your monthly check or not, next year's COLA is likely to come with an extra tax burden for many retirees.

Oct. 10 is when September's CPI-W reading is scheduled to be released. Once that happens, the SSA should be able to announce a number of key changes to the program for 2025, including not just an official COLA, but a new earnings-test limit and wage cap.

The inflation data for August gives us a pretty good idea about the likely magnitude of Social Security’s cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 2025. This automatic indexing of benefits to keep up with rising prices — always a wonderful feature of our Social Security program — has been particularly valuable in light of the recent bout of inflation.

The purpose of COLAs is to help Social Security beneficiaries maintain their buying power in the face of inflation. Over time, living costs tend to rise naturally. Keeping Social Security payments stagnant would likely force those who rely on them into poverty through the years.