COLA Ledger

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

The 2007 Social Security COLA — 3.3%

Cost-of-living adjustment, 2007

3.3%

This adjustment was determined in 2006, took effect with benefits payable for December 2006, and first reached checks in January 2007.

Determined in
2006December-effective
First in a check
January 2007
Comparison quarter
Q3 2006CPI-W 199.1
Base quarter
Q3 2005CPI-W 192.7

SSA’s own table lists this adjustment under 2006, 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 3.3%

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 2007 adjustment
QuarterMonthCPI-W index
Base — Q3 2005July 2005191.000
August 2005192.100
September 2005195.000
Base quarter average192.7
Comparison — Q3 2006July 2006199.200
August 2006199.600
September 2006198.400
Comparison quarter average199.1

The quarterly averages are rounded to the nearest tenth — the precision the determination-2006 notice specifies — and the percentage increase between them is then rounded to the nearest tenth of a percentage point. That gives 3.3%.

Reproduced from the raw index

Recomputing this adjustment from the committed CPI-W series returns 3.3%, 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 3.3% 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 2007 adjustment on two benchmark monthly benefits
Monthly benefit beforeAfter the adjustmentMonthly increaseOver a year
$1,000$1,033+$33+$396
$2,000$2,066+$66+$792

Medicare changes the answer. In 2007 the Part B standard premium was $93.50 against $88.50 the year before, so a $2,000 benefit gained +$66 gross but only +$61 net — an effective raise of 3.19% against a headline 3.3%. The full ledger for that amount.

The 2007 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 2007, each traced to the government table it came from.

Committed Social Security and Medicare parameters for 2007
Parameter2007
Maximum earnings subject to Social Security tax$97,500
SSI federal payment rate — individual$623
SSI federal payment rate — couple$934
Earnings needed for one Social Security credit$1,000
Retirement earnings test — under full retirement age$12,960
Retirement earnings test — year of full retirement age$34,440
Substantial gainful activity — non-blind$900
Substantial gainful activity — blind$1,500
Trial work period — a service month$640
First PIA bend point (eligibility at 62 this year)$680
Second PIA bend point (eligibility at 62 this year)$4,100
Medicare Part B standard monthly premium$93.50
Medicare Part B annual deductible$131

Where to go next

Sources and freshness

Figures effective December 2006. 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