If you receive Social Security benefits in Louisiana, you will be getting a raise in 2025. However, that bump will be a bit smaller than in recent years.

How much will Social Security benefits increase in 2025?

The Social Security Administration recently announced that recipients will get a 2.5% cost-of-living increase in their monthly checks beginning in January.

The cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for retirees, will result in an average increase of more than $50 for retirees every month, the agency said.

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How many people in America collect Social Security benefits?

There are about 72.5 million people in the United States who get Social Security benefits. That includes retirees, disabled people, and children.

Social Security Commissioner Martin O'Malley said the COLA will help "tens of millions of people keep up with expenses even as inflation has started to cool."

Next year's Social Security benefits increase is on the low side.

As mentioned earlier, the 2025 increase is modest compared to recent years. This past year, recipients received a 3.2% increase in their benefits.

And this followed a historically large 8.7% raise in 2023, which was brought on by record 40-year-high inflation.

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The smaller increase for 2025 reflects moderating inflation.

How is the Social Security program funded?

The Social Security program is financed by payroll taxes collected from workers and their employees and that will be increasing to $176,000. The maximum amount of earnings subject to Social Security payroll taxes was $168,600 for 2024, up from $160,200 in 2023.

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Jeff Greenberg
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What about the future of Social Security?

This has been a hot topic for several years now. The annual Social Security and Medicare trustees report, which was released in May, said the program's trust fund will be unable to pay full benefits beginning in 2035.

If this happens, the government will only be able to play 83% of scheduled benefits, the report said.

Both presidential candidates were interviewed by the AARP in late August and they were asked how they each would protect the Social Security Trust Fund.

Democrat Kamala Harris said she would make up for the shortfall by "making billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share in taxes and use that money to protect and strengthen Social Security for the long haul.”

Republican Donald Trump said, “We’ll protect it with growth. I don’t want to do anything having to do with increasing age. I won’t do that. As you know, I was there for four years and never even thought about doing it. I’m going to do nothing to Social Security.”

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