5.9 Percent Cost of Living Raise for Social Security and Disability

In the last decade, there have been plenty of years in which the COLA, or cost of living adjustment, has been either zero, or practically zero. That will not be the case for 2022. The cost of living raise for Social Security retirement, Social Security Disability, and SSI benefits will be 5.9 percent.

Unfortunately, the reason for this is fairly high inflation. The Federal Reserve has referred to inflation as a transitory phenomenon, but prices have risen 6.3% since last year. And if you go to the grocery store on a regular basis, you can absolutely see this in the cost of meat. If you eat fast food, while prices may not have increased substantially, you may have noticed that your favorite items seem to be shrinking.

Low or absent inflation was why we did get living adjustments in many prior years.