Social Security checks could get increase in 2023

Social Security recipients whose checks haven’t kept pace with inflation this year could make up some ground in 2023.

The roughly 70 million people – retirees, disabled people and others – who rely on Social Security could receive an 8.7% cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, next year, according to an estimate by Mary Johnson, a policy analyst for the Senior Citizen League, an advocacy group.

That would be the largest increase since 1982.

For the average retiree who got a monthly check of $1,656 this year, the bump would mean an additional $144.10 a month in 2023, boosting the typical payment to $1,800, Johnson estimates.

“A boost by that much is certainly going to ease the (budget) squeeze” for seniors, she says.

What is the US inflation rate?

This year, retirees have struggled to keep up with inflation, with the 5.9% cost-of-living increase approved last October falling short of price increases that have averaged about 9%. The consumer price index rose 8.3% in August from a year earlier, continuing to ease from a 40-year high but staying elevated because of rising food, medical care and rent costs.

How much is a Social Security check per month?

The average $1,656 payment left recipients $43.80 a month shy of keeping pace with actual price increases, according to the Senior Citizens League. If inflation eases next year, as expected, Social Security recipients could close some of that gap, Johnson says.

At the same time, 59% of retirees surveyed by Senior Citizens League in late summer believe they’ll face a higher tax liability in 2022 because of the relatively large 5.9% COLA. That includes 21% who worry they’ll have to pay taxes on their Social Security payments for the first time after previously falling below income thresholds.

And over a longer period, Social Security recipients have lost buying power.