People with disabilities receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and other Social Security benefits will receive the biggest rise in their monthly payments since 1982. The Social Security Administration says that benefits will grow 5.9% in 2022.
The change is the result of an automatic cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, tied to inflation, and is another indication of a post-pandemic surge in inflation. The annual adjustment is based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics which rose 5.4% in September from a year earlier, the largest annual gain since 2008.
With COLA, the maximum federal SSI benefit for individuals will be $841 per month in 2022, up from $794 this year. For couples, the maximum will be $1,261 next year, up from $1,191.
Beneficiaries may see payments that are greater than the federal maximum since some states chip in extra.
The new amounts will take effect in January for the nation’s 64 million Social Security beneficiaries and will start Dec. 30 for 8 million SSI beneficiaries.
The Social Security Administration said beneficiaries are usually notified by mail beginning in early December about their updated payment amount for the coming year and most people will also be able to view the information online through their Social Security account at that time.
In the last 10 years, COLA has increased by an average of 1.65% annually.
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