Social Security beneficiaries will see a 3.2% boost to their benefits in 2024, the Social Security Administration announced on Thursday. The annual cost-of-living adjustment for 2024 will affect more than 71 million Social Security and Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries. These benefit adjustments are made annually to help benefits keep place with inflation.
The Consumer Price Index for the Elderly, or CPI-E, may be a better measure for the costs seniors face and help them maintain their purchasing power, advocates for the change argue. However, that measurement may not necessarily provide a bigger annual boost, research has found.
“We’re happy to see an increase,” Tracey Gronniger, managing director of economic security and housing at Justice in Aging, a national organization focused on fighting senior poverty, said of the COLA for 2024.
However, the increase may not be sufficient, particularly for seniors who are living in poverty, she said.
“It’s not enough in the sense that people are still trying to make ends meet, and they’re still kind of struggling to meet their costs for housing and health care,” Gronniger said.
