Your future Social Security benefit increases could be affected by which candidate wins the upcoming presidential election.

On Oct. 10, the Social Security Administration (SSA) dropped a bombshell by announcing that monthly benefits would be rising by 2.5% in 2025. That's a considerably lower cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, than 2024's 3.2% increase. And it's also the smallest Social Security COLA to arrive since 2021 when benefits rose by just 1.3%.

Social Security benefits are given a cost of living adjustment each year. The 2025 COLA increase is the smallest since 2021.

With the 2025 COLA announcement, the average Social Security check for individual retirees will increase from $1,927 per month to $1,976

There's been lots of speculation about Social Security's 2025 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), but on Oct. 10, it all came to an end. That's because the Social Security Administration announced a 2.5% raise for 2025,

The extent to which your monthly Social Security payments will increase in 2025 will hinge on a few factors. These include an official COLA number, whether you're enrolled in Medicare, and whether the cost of Part B rises in 2025.

This double SSI check is due to Dec. 1 falling on a Sunday this year. Recipients, who usually receive their checks the first of the month, will get their November payment on Nov. 1, and their SSI payments for December will be distributed on Friday, Nov. 29, according to the SSA calendar.

Vice President Harris and former President Trump have both vowed to protect Social Security, but experts say both of their campaign platforms fall short of specific solutions for a program that faces threats to funding in roughly a decade.