Monthly checks for the nearly 76 million Americans who receive Social Security benefits will rise by 3.6% in 2027. The increase, announced on Oct. 14, 2026, is the largest since the one that took effect in 2023.

This cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, is how the government tries to make sure that the value of Social Security benefits keeps up with inflation. Without it, the same payment would cover less of what recipients are spending on medical care, housing, groceries, clothing and other necessities.

I am a finance professor, and one of the topics I research is how inflation affects retirees’ investment choices. And I believe the upcoming bump doesn’t capture the inflation challenges that many people who receive Social Security benefits face.

The percentage increase in Social Security benefits depends in part on the annual inflation rate as of September 2026. It stood at 3.7% that month, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a government agency, also announced on Oct. 14.

But the size of the increase is only part of the issue. The index used to set the COLA reflects what working people buy, not retirees, and that is a mismatch at the heart of a long-running debate over how the adjustment........

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