Social Security recipients will get a 2.5% cost-of-living boost in 2025, smaller than in recent past

By Fatima Hussein | The Associated PressFILE – A Social Security card is displayed on Oct. 12, 2021, in Tigard, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of Social Security recipients will get a& 2.5% cost-of-living increase& to their monthly checks beginning in January, the Social Security Administration announced Thursday.The& cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for retirees translates to an average increase of more than $50 for retirees every month, agency officials said.About& 72.5 million& people, including retirees, disabled people and children, get Social Security benefit.But even before the announcement, retirees voiced concern that the increase would not be enough to counter rising costs.Sherri Myers, an 82-year-old retiree from Pensacola City, Florida, is now hoping to get an hourly job at Walmart to help make ends meet.“I would like to eat good but I can’t. When I’m at the grocery store, I just walk past the vegetables because they are too expensive. I have to be very selective about what I eat — even McDonald’s is expensive,” she said.Recipients received a 3.2% increase in their benefits in 2024, after a historically large 8.7% benefit increase in 2023, brought on by record 40-year-high inflation.The smaller increase for 2025 reflects moderating inflation.Social...