But when we look back at the data, it becomes clear that a 2.5% Social Security COLA isn't so terrible. In fact, it's a lot more generous than some of the COLAs beneficiaries have seen in the past. In 2024, Social Security benefits rose by 3.2%. The year prior, they increased by 8.7%. And in 2022, a 5.9% COLA came through.

The whole reason 2025's Social Security COLA is going to be much smaller is that inflation has eased nicely over the past year. So what seniors lose in the form of a smaller COLA, they gain in the form of less drastic price increases on their essential expenses.

Social Security beneficiaries will soon experience a welcome change when benefits climb due to a cost-of-living adjustment.

When the Social Security Administration announced in October that benefits would be rising by just 2.5% in the new year, many seniors were disappointed but not particularly shocked. For months, experts had been projecting that 2025's Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) would land somewhere in that ballpark.