SSA Announces 2.7 Percent Increase in Benefits for 2005

Social Security and SSI benficiaries will receive a 2.7 increase in their monthly benefits in 2005, SSA announced yesterday:

Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits increase automatically each year based on the rise in the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), from the third quarter of the prior year to the corresponding period of the current year. This year's increase in the CPI-W was 2.7 percent.

The 2.7 percent Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) will begin with benefits that more than 47 million Social Security beneficiaries receive in January 2005. Increased payments to 7 million Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries will begin on December 30.

As a result of the adjustment, the SGA limit rises from $810/month to $830/month. The Trial Work Period threshhold rises from $580/month to $590/month.

A chart of all the numbers affected by the COLA can be found here.