COLA Ledger

An independent reference — not affiliated with the Social Security Administration. Every figure traced to the government publication that produced it.

The 2006 Social Security COLA — 4.1%

Cost-of-living adjustment, 2006

4.1%

This adjustment was determined in 2005, took effect with benefits payable for December 2005, and first reached checks in January 2006.

Determined in
2005December-effective
First in a check
January 2006
Comparison quarter
Q3 2005CPI-W 192.7
Base quarter
Q3 2004CPI-W 185.1

SSA’s own table lists this adjustment under 2005, the year it was determined. The public name it by the year it reaches a check, which is one later. This site uses the name people search for. Why the two labels disagree.

The CPI-W values behind the 4.1%

Every adjustment is an average of three monthly index readings against an average of three others. These are the six values, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics published them for series CWUR0000SA0 — all items, U.S. city average, not seasonally adjusted.

CPI-W monthly index values and quarterly averages behind the 2006 adjustment
QuarterMonthCPI-W index
Base — Q3 2004July 2004184.900
August 2004185.000
September 2004185.400
Base quarter average185.1
Comparison — Q3 2005July 2005191.000
August 2005192.100
September 2005195.000
Comparison quarter average192.7

The quarterly averages are rounded to the nearest tenth — the precision the determination-2005 notice specifies — and the percentage increase between them is then rounded to the nearest tenth of a percentage point. That gives 4.1%.

Reproduced from the raw index

Recomputing this adjustment from the committed CPI-W series returns 4.1%, matching SSA’s published figure. That check runs on all 51 determinations as a blocking build gate, so no page here can ship a figure the arithmetic does not support.

What 4.1% did to a benefit

Monthly benefit amounts are floored to the whole dollar after the adjustment is applied, which is why these figures are not simply the percentage multiplied out.

Effect of the 2006 adjustment on two benchmark monthly benefits
Monthly benefit beforeAfter the adjustmentMonthly increaseOver a year
$1,000$1,041+$41+$492
$2,000$2,082+$82+$984

Medicare changes the answer. In 2006 the Part B standard premium was $88.50 against $78.20 the year before, so a $2,000 benefit gained +$82 gross but only +$72 net — an effective raise of 3.75% against a headline 4.1%. The full ledger for that amount.

The 2006 figures this adjustment set

Most Social Security parameters move with the adjustment or with the national average wage index. These are the committed values for 2006, each traced to the government table it came from.

Committed Social Security and Medicare parameters for 2006
Parameter2006
Maximum earnings subject to Social Security tax$94,200
SSI federal payment rate — individual$603
SSI federal payment rate — couple$904
Earnings needed for one Social Security credit$970
Retirement earnings test — under full retirement age$12,480
Retirement earnings test — year of full retirement age$33,240
Substantial gainful activity — non-blind$860
Substantial gainful activity — blind$1,450
Trial work period — a service month$620
First PIA bend point (eligibility at 62 this year)$656
Second PIA bend point (eligibility at 62 this year)$3,955
Medicare Part B standard monthly premium$88.50
Medicare Part B annual deductible$124

Where to go next

Sources and freshness

Figures effective December 2005. Page figures last verified against the sources above on 10 August 2026. BLS data retrieved 10 August 2026. BLS.gov cannot vouch for data or analyses derived from these data after retrieval. Corrections: the correction log · support@inventum.com.au