COLA Ledger

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

The 2011 Social Security COLA — 0.0%

Cost-of-living adjustment, 2011

0.0%

This adjustment was determined in 2010, took effect with benefits payable for December 2010, and first reached checks in January 2011.

Determined in
2010December-effective
First in a check
January 2011
Comparison quarter
Q3 2010CPI-W 214.136
Base quarter
Q3 2008CPI-W 215.495

SSA’s own table lists this adjustment under 2010, 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.

No adjustment this year

The comparison quarter’s CPI-W average did not exceed the base quarter’s, so the statutory result is zero. There is no negative cost-of-living adjustment: benefits hold at the prior rate rather than falling. The base quarter is then carried forward — the next adjustment measures against Q3 2008, not against this year. Every zero year, and what each one cost.

This is one of the two proof years

The base quarter here is Q3 2008, not the third quarter of 2009. The rule measures against the last year in which an adjustment actually became effective, and 2009 produced none. A naive year-over-year computation on this year is wrong, and it is wrong by enough to change the published figure. The rule, and the error it prevents.

The CPI-W values behind the 0.0%

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 2011 adjustment
QuarterMonthCPI-W index
Base — Q3 2008July 2008216.304
August 2008215.247
September 2008214.935
Base quarter average215.495
Comparison — Q3 2010July 2010213.898
August 2010214.205
September 2010214.306
Comparison quarter average214.136

The quarterly averages are rounded to three decimal places — the precision the determination-2010 notice specifies — and the percentage increase between them is then rounded to the nearest tenth of a percentage point. Here the comparison average did not exceed the base, so the statutory result is zero.

Reproduced from the raw index

Recomputing this adjustment from the committed CPI-W series returns 0.0%, 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.

The 2011 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 2011, each traced to the government table it came from.

Committed Social Security and Medicare parameters for 2011
Parameter2011
Maximum earnings subject to Social Security tax$106,800
SSI federal payment rate — individual$674
SSI federal payment rate — couple$1,011
Earnings needed for one Social Security credit$1,120
Retirement earnings test — under full retirement age$14,160
Retirement earnings test — year of full retirement age$37,680
Substantial gainful activity — non-blind$1,000
Substantial gainful activity — blind$1,640
Trial work period — a service month$720
First PIA bend point (eligibility at 62 this year)$749
Second PIA bend point (eligibility at 62 this year)$4,517
Medicare Part B standard monthly premium$115.40
Medicare Part B annual deductible$162

Where to go next

Sources and freshness

Figures effective December 2010. 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