As inflation has come down, so, too, has the projected Social Security cost-of-living adjustment for 2025.
The COLA for next year will be a 2.63% rise in Social Security benefits, substantially lower than 2024’s 3.2% and 2023’s 8.7% increases, according to The Senior Citizens League.
While the pace of year-over-year inflation increases has been decreasing, coming in at 3.0% in July, cumulative inflation since 2021 has jacked up prices for goods and services by an average of 22%. The problem for retirees is that between 2020 and 2023, average grocery prices rose 24%.
The 86% surge in the price of a dozen eggs and 72% spike in the cost of iceburg lettuce from 2020-2023 grabbed headlines, to be sure, but many other everyday items have become much more expensive, too.
White sugar is 45% more expensive; ground coffee, 39% more costly; ham, up by 35%; and white bread, also up by 35%.
Rising grocery prices are creating food insecurity for many retirees. Feeding America estimates that 5.5 million Americans 60 and older in 2021 suffered food insecurity. That’s 7% of the 77 million people in the U.S. 60+ who are struggling to afford food.
More than a third, 34%, of retirees visited a food pantry or applied for food stamps in the past year, the League found in a survey of 1,550 senior citizens. Sixty percent said food is the fastest-growing expense in their monthly budgets, followed by housing.