7 Biggest Social Security Changes Coming in 2025, part 1

Here are some important ways Social Security will be different in 2025.

1. Cost-of-living (COLA) adjustment
Inflation continued to cool this year, resulting in a 2.5 percent COLA for 2025 for people receiving Social Security payments, down from 3.2 percent in 2024. The estimated average retirement benefit will increase by $49 a month, from $1,927 to $1,976, starting in January, according to the Social Security Administration (SSA).

It’s the lowest COLA in four years, reflecting a return to pre-pandemic inflation trends. The average COLA since 2000 has been about 2.6 percent.

The COLA is applied to all Social Security payments — survivor benefits, family benefits and disability benefits, as well as retirement benefits. Also, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), a monthly benefit administered by the SSA for people with low incomes and limited assets who are 65 or older, blind or have a disability.

2. Medicare premiums
The standard monthly premium for Medicare Part B, which covers doctor visits and other outpatient treatment, goes up from $174.70 to $185 in January. Most Medicare enrollees pay this standard rate. It is typically a deduction from Social Security payments. The premium increase has the effect of partially offsetting the COLA, by $10.30 a month.

3. Service at Social Security offices
Since April 2022, the SSA has been recommending customers seeking in-person help call ahead rather than dropping in. In 2025, that recommendation becomes a requirement in most situations. Starting January 6, 2025 customers will be required to schedule an appointment for service in field offices, including requests for Social Security cards.

The appointment edict is not absolute. Offices will not turn people away for service who are unable to make an appointment or do not want to make an appointment.

To schedule an office visit, call the SSA’s national help line at 800-772-1213 or contact your local office. You can also access many SSA services online, if you have a My Social Security account.

4. Full retirement age
Full retirement age, or FRA, is the age at which you become eligible to claim 100 percent of the retirement benefit calculated from your lifetime earnings. For the past several years it has been going up two months at a time, based on year of birth.

FRA is 66 years and 8 months for people born in 1958 and 66 and 10 months for those born in 1959; people born May 2, 1958, through Feb. 28, 1959, will reach it in 2025. (Under current law, it will settle at 67 for people born in 1960 and afterward.)

You can start collecting retirement benefits before FRA — the minimum age is 62. But, your monthly payment will be permanently reduced, by as much as 30 percent. You can also wait past FRA and reap Social Security’s bonus for delaying benefits: an extra 8 percent a year until age 70, when you can claim your maximum benefit.

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