Social Security says its 2027 cost-of-living notices will be available online in late November 2026 to most beneficiaries who created a my Social Security account by November 18. The agency announced on October 14 that benefits for 76 million Americans will increase 3.6 percent in 2027, and the notice is the document that turns that percentage into a dollar amount for each household. Anyone without an account gets the same notice on paper, later.
What the November 18 cutoff covers
Social Security’s COLA page says the notices will be posted in the Message Center of a my Social Security account for most beneficiaries, if they created their account by November 18, 2026. The agency’s letter to advocacy groups, signed by Nick Perrine, says signing up for digital notices by that date gets the notice up to three weeks earlier than by mail.
The word “most” is Social Security’s own. The announcement does not say which beneficiaries are left out, and it does not describe an online notice for accounts opened after November 18. For everyone else the fallback is the paper notice, which Social Security’s blog says goes to recipients not enrolled in paperless notices during December.
A retiree with no account, who wants to see the exact 2027 amount before the mailed notice, has one task with a fixed date: finish the account setup before November 18. The identity check is the part that takes time, because it asks for a government photo ID and either a phone or a camera, so starting in the first week of November is safer than starting on the last day.
A new monthly amount from January means every deposit after the notice needs to be checked against it. The Social Security Check Protection Kit includes the 2026 payment calendar, so a household can see when each deposit is due while the new amount takes effect.
Get the 2026 payment calendar in the Social Security Check Protection Kit →
Opening the account
Social Security’s my Social Security page says new users verify their identity through a partner site, Login.gov or ID.me. Login.gov takes an email address, a government-issued photo ID and a phone number. ID.me takes an email address, a government-issued photo ID and a device with a camera. Anyone who already has a Login.gov or ID.me account can use it to sign in.
Once inside, the account does more than hold notices. Social Security lists printing proof of benefits or tax forms, changing an address or direct deposit, getting a personal Social Security Statement and reviewing earnings for accuracy among its functions. A beneficiary who sets the account up for the COLA notice ends up with all of that available for the rest of the year.
What 3.6 percent looks like in dollars
The percentage applies to each person’s own benefit, so the notice amount will differ from household to household. Social Security’s blog says the average retirement benefit will increase by about $75 per month starting in January. The increase begins with benefits payable to nearly 72 million Social Security beneficiaries in January 2027, according to the COLA page, and the same page says increased payments to about 7.3 million SSI recipients begin on December 31, 2026.
The 3.6 percent comes from a formula that is written into law. Social Security’s actuaries compare the average CPI-W for July, August and September against the same quarter of the last year a COLA took effect, and the result is rounded to the nearest tenth of a percent. The 2026 adjustment, for comparison, was 2.8 percent.
People who receive Medicare have one more step. Social Security says their new 2027 benefit amount will be available in December through the mailed COLA notice, and that information about Medicare changes for 2027 will be on Medicare.gov. Those two pieces together decide what lands in the bank account.
Setting up my Social Security before November 18
The free route is ssa.gov/myaccount. Pick Login.gov or ID.me, finish the identity check, then sign in and look for the Message Center, where the COLA notice is due to appear in late November. Social Security’s COLA page adds that beneficiaries can choose to receive available notices online instead of by mail when they sign in or create an account, so an existing account holder should sign in once before the cutoff and make that choice.
Before sitting down, gather a government photo ID, the email address the household actually uses, and a phone or a device with a camera.
When the notice posts, compare the new gross amount with the 2026 amount on the last statement, then compare the first January deposit with the notice. If the amount in the notice and the deposit differ, Medicare premiums are the first place to look, since the December mailed notice is where Social Security says the Medicare picture arrives.
A new amount starts with January payments
Nearly 72 million beneficiaries see a new amount in January, and a deposit that arrives short or late is easiest to catch when the dates are already written down. The Social Security Check Protection Kit puts the 2026 payment calendar in one place, along with the rest of its protection map for Social Security payments. The notice answers how much, and the calendar answers when.
Keep the payment calendar next to the COLA notice with the Check Protection Kit →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
