The Social Security Administration (SSA) recently announced that beneficiaries will get a 2.5% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in 2025. The new adjustment will boost the average retirement check

One of the most important parts of Social Security is the annual cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA. The COLA is designed to help your monthly checks keep up with rising prices for everything from groceries, to medical bills, to the cost of housing. The Social Security Administration announces the next year's COLA in October each year.

Here's when 2025's Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment increases will go into effect. The increase is the agency's lowest in years.

Among the changes Social Security recipients will see in 2025 is a higher full retirement age. The number marks the age at which workers become eligible to claim 100 percent of their retirement benefit based on lifetime earnings.

All Social Security beneficiaries are getting a 2.5% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) next year -- or at least they are on paper. This will increase monthly benefit amounts for all recipients, including those claiming spousal Social Security.

For the millions of older Americans who get most of their monthly income from Social Security, annual COLAs, or cost-of-living adjustments, are a big deal. COLAs are designed to boost benefits in line with inflation so that seniors don't lose out on buying power from one year to the next.