Under the COLA formula, retirees get a benefits bump based on how much a specific consumer price index changed during the third quarter of the year. In fact, the Senior Citizens League estimated that the average person retiring in 2024 would have had more than $12,000 in additional lifetime benefits over a 25-year retirement if CPI-E had been used to calculate COLAs rather than CPI-W. Seniors got a 2.8% COLA in 2026, while The Senior Citizens League currently projects a 3.8% COLA for 2027.