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Changes in data collection could affect 2026 COLA calculation

The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently eliminated three cities from the data sampling used to calculate its inflation numbers. Is this a big deal, and could it affect the calculation of Social Security’s cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 2026 (and beyond)? According to Retirement Writer Donna LeValley, posting on kiplinger.com, there are concerns among experts that dropping this data could lead to less accuracy in the data that fuels the COLA calculation.

As Ms. LeValley reports, the decision to drop the three cities (Lincoln, Nebraska; Provo, Utah; and Buffalo, NY) was driven by staffing shortages. BLS expects the change to have only a “minimal effect” on CPI calculations. Still, the Senior Citizens League expressed concerns about “inaccuracies in regional or item-specific inflation measurements” and their potential effect on COLAs, LeValley reports. Read her post in full here.

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