Mahoning Valley & U.S. - Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments will increase by 2.5% for over 72.5 million Americans in 2025.

According to a press release, Social Security retirement benefits will increase by about $50 per month on average starting in January of 2025.

Over the last decade, the cost of living adjustment (COLA) has averaged about 2.6%. The COLA was 3.2% in 2024.

Nearly 68 million Social Security beneficiaries will see a 2.5% COLA beginning in January. Increased payments to nearly 7.5 million people receiving SSI will begin December 31, 2024.

Other adjustments that take effect in January of each year are based on the increase in average wages. Based on that increase, the maximum amount of earnings subject to Social Security tax is slated to increase from $168,600 to $176,100.

Beneficiaries will be notified about their new benefit amount via mail starting in early December.

New this year, beneficiaries will receive a newly-designed COLA notice that will make it easier for beneficiaries to find the information they need most.

The new notice is only one page, uses plain and personalized language and provides exact dates and dollar amounts of your new benefit amount and any deductions.

If you have a personal My Social Security account, you can view your COLA notice online and set up email alerts for new messages. Beneficiaries will need to have an account by November 20 to see their COLA notice online.

You can create an account by clicking here.

Those who opt not to receive messages online will have their COLA notice mailed to them in December.