Latest News
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.
This posting is presented for informational purposes only and does not represent legal or financial guidance. Any opinions or interpretations presented are either those of the original author or, in the case of articles authored by the AMAC Foundation, are the opinions of AMAC Foundation staff, originally trained and accredited by the National Social Security Association (NSSA) and certified via the AMAC Foundation. Any links included in the article are valid on the posted date; socialsecurityreport.org cannot guarantee the duration of the links’ validity. NSSA and the AMAC Foundation and its staff are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Social Security Administration or any other governmental entity. To submit a question, visit our website (https://amacfoundation.org/services/) or email us at ssadvisor@amacfoundation.org. Because we are a non-profit organization, there is no charge for these services.