Social Security Faces 3 Historic Milestones With Its 2027 COLA

High energy prices due to conflict in the Middle East will likely lead to a high COLA for 2027.

The Senior Citizens League estimates it will be 3.8%, one percentage point higher than in 2026.

Social Security benefits have progressively lost their purchasing power over the years.

It would be hard to argue against the Social Security program being one of the U.S.'s premier and most-needed social programs. As of the end of June, over 54.6 million people were receiving Social Security retired workers' benefits, and millions of them would be flirting with poverty without them.

The Social Security program is complex with many different working parts, and many of those parts tend to change frequently. Some changes are unwelcome, but other changes are typically embraced by retirees. A change that falls into the latter category is the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) .

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The Social Security Administration (SSA) won't release the official 2027 COLA until Oct. 14, but early estimates from select organizations have been released. If the COLA is near the current estimates, it'll check off a few historic milestones.

The annual COLA is set by looking at changes to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). It's an inflation measure released monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that looks at price changes in goods and services like housing, transportation, food, energy , and medical care.