The 2018 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for Social Security recipients and annuitants in both the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and the Federal Employees Retirement System

The 2018 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for Social Security recipients and annuitants in both the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) will increase 2.0 percent, the Social Security Administration announced today.

The 2018 federal retiree COLA is large improvement over last year’s 0.3 percent increase and the zero COLA in 2016.  It’s also the first year the CSRS and FERS COLA has been 2.0 percent or more since 2012.

The 2018 COLA will begin with benefits payable to more than 61 million Social Security beneficiaries in January 2018.  The Social Security Act ties the annual COLA to the increase in the Consumer Price Index as determined by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.