(NEXSTAR) – The Social Security Administration’s (SSA) annual adjustment of benefits to offset inflation is set to kick in, meaning millions of recipients will see a higher number on their checks in 2024.
While the cost of groceries, housing and other staples isn’t getting any cheaper, inflation eased during 2023, leading officials to announce an increase of 3.2% – well under last year’s eye-popping 8.7% jump.
Estimated average monthly checks for retired workers will rise from $1,848 to $1,907, but not all recipients will receive their first larger payment at the same time.
When will I get my first higher payment?
According to the SSA, increased payments to roughly 7.5 million Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients will start going out on Dec. 29 since Jan. 1 is a holiday.
The COLA-adjusted Social Security benefits will start going out to more than 66 million recipients in January 2024. When you receive that first payment will depend on your birthday, however.
If you were born between the first and 10th of the month, your check will go out on the second Wednesday of the month, Jan. 10.
If you were born between the 11th and the 20th, your payment is scheduled for the third Wednesday, Jan. 17.
If you were born between the 21st and the 31st, your benefits will be sent on the fourth Wednesday, Jan. 24.
One exception is for people who received Social Security before May 1997. Their payments will go out on Jan. 3rd.
Employees with the SSA provide roughly $1.4 trillion in benefits to more than 70 million people each year. At least 8 million additional beneficiaries have been added over the past 10 years, according to the SSA.
“For more than 85 years, Social Security has provided income protection for retirees, adults and children with disabilities, and families who lose a wage earner,” Kilolo Kijakazi, acting commissioner of Social Security, said in a news release. “Despite our recent history of chronic underfunding, Social Security remains among the most trusted agencies in the Federal Government.”
See the COLA adjustments over the last decade
Here’s how 2024’s cost-of-living adjustment compares with those of the last 10 years:
| Year | COLA adjustment |
| January 2024 | 3.2% |
| January 2023 | 8.7% |
| January 2022 | 5.9% |
| January 2021 | 1.3% |
| January 2020 | 1.6% |
| January 2019 | 2.8% |
| January 2018 | 2.0% |
| January 2017 | 0.3% |
| January 2016 | 0.0% |
| January 2015 | 1.7% |
When it comes to notably-high increases dating back to 1975, no year surpassed the COLA increases during a three year span of crushing inflation in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
In 1979 the adjustment was 9.9%, followed by 14.3% in 1980 and 11.2% the following year, before sliding to 7.4% in 1982.
