The highest and lowest COLAs on record
51 adjustments, ranked. The spread is enormous — from 14.3% to nothing at all — and the pattern says more about the era than about the programme.
Largest adjustment ever — 1980
14.3%
The smallest non-zero was 0.3% in 2017, and 3 years produced no adjustment at all. The mean across the record is 3.73%.
- Highest
- 14.3%1980
- Lowest non-zero
- 0.3%2017
- Zero years
- 32016, 2011, 2010
- Mean
- 3.73%16 above it
The five largest
| Rank | Year | Adjustment | Monthly, on $2,000 | Annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1980 | 14.3% | +$286 | +$3,432 |
| 2 | 1981 | 11.2% | +$224 | +$2,688 |
| 3 | 1979 | 9.9% | +$198 | +$2,376 |
| 4 | 2023 | 8.7% | +$174 | +$2,088 |
| 5 | 1975 | 8.0% | +$160 | +$1,920 |
Four of the five sit in a single stretch of the late 1970s and early 1980s. The adjustment was large because inflation was large — a big adjustment is a benefit catching up with a cost of living that already rose, not a gain.
The five smallest that were not zero
| Year | Adjustment | Monthly, on $2,000 | Annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 0.3% | +$6 | +$72 |
| 1987 | 1.3% | +$26 | +$312 |
| 1999 | 1.3% | +$26 | +$312 |
| 2021 | 1.3% | +$26 | +$312 |
| 2003 | 1.4% | +$28 | +$336 |
0.3% in 2017 is worth +$6 a month on a $2,000 benefit — less than the Medicare Part B premium increase in most years, which is the point of the net-of-Medicare study.
By decade
| Decade | Adjustments | Mean | Highest | Lowest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 5 | 7.34% | 9.9% | 5.9% |
| 1980s | 9 | 5.83% | 14.3% | 1.3% |
| 1990s | 10 | 3.11% | 5.4% | 1.3% |
| 2000s | 10 | 3.03% | 5.8% | 1.4% |
| 2010s | 10 | 1.36% | 3.6% | 0.0% |
| 2020s | 7 | 3.71% | 8.7% | 1.3% |
The 2010s are the outlier at the quiet end and the 1980s at the loud one. The current decade contains both 8.7% and 1.3%, which is an unusually wide range for four consecutive years.
A ranking is not a comparison of purchasing power
A 14.3% adjustment in a year of high inflation and a 0.3% adjustment in a year of almost none can both be exactly right. Whether the adjustment kept up with what beneficiaries actually spend on is a separate question with a separate answer. The adjustment against measured inflation.
Common questions
What is the highest COLA ever?
14.3%, for 1980. On a $2,000 monthly benefit that would be worth +$286 a month — but benefits were far smaller then, and the adjustment was large because inflation was.
What is the lowest?
Zero, three times: 2016, 2011, 2010. The smallest non-zero adjustment was 0.3% for 2017, worth +$6 a month on a $2,000 benefit.
Are the big adjustments good news?
Only in the narrow sense that the arithmetic worked. A large adjustment means prices rose a lot in the measurement window, and the benefit is catching up to a cost of living that already went up. Nobody gains purchasing power from a large adjustment.
Is the average meaningful?
The mean across the record is 3.73%, but the distribution is lumpy rather than centred: 16 adjustments sit above it and the rest below. The 1980s and the 2020s look nothing like the 2010s.
Related
- Every adjustmentthe full table
- Zero years3 of them
- Against inflationdid it keep up
- 1980the largest
- 2017the smallest
- 2026the current one
Sources and freshness
- SSA Office of the Chief Actuary — Cost-of-Living Adjustments — verified 10 August 2026
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — CPI-W (CWUR0000SA0), all items, U.S. city average, not seasonally adjusted — verified 10 August 2026
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