COLA Ledger

An independent reference — not affiliated with the Social Security Administration. Every figure traced to the government publication that produced it.

The 2016 Social Security COLA — 0.0%

Cost-of-living adjustment, 2016

0.0%

This adjustment was determined in 2015, took effect with benefits payable for December 2015, and first reached checks in January 2016.

Determined in
2015December-effective
First in a check
January 2016
Comparison quarter
Q3 2015CPI-W 233.278
Base quarter
Q3 2014CPI-W 234.242

SSA’s own table lists this adjustment under 2015, the year it was determined. The public name it by the year it reaches a check, which is one later. This site uses the name people search for. Why the two labels disagree.

No adjustment this year

The comparison quarter’s CPI-W average did not exceed the base quarter’s, so the statutory result is zero. There is no negative cost-of-living adjustment: benefits hold at the prior rate rather than falling. The base quarter is then carried forward — the next adjustment measures against Q3 2014, not against this year. Every zero year, and what each one cost.

The CPI-W values behind the 0.0%

Every adjustment is an average of three monthly index readings against an average of three others. These are the six values, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics published them for series CWUR0000SA0 — all items, U.S. city average, not seasonally adjusted.

CPI-W monthly index values and quarterly averages behind the 2016 adjustment
QuarterMonthCPI-W index
Base — Q3 2014July 2014234.525
August 2014234.030
September 2014234.170
Base quarter average234.242
Comparison — Q3 2015July 2015233.806
August 2015233.366
September 2015232.661
Comparison quarter average233.278

The quarterly averages are rounded to three decimal places — the precision the determination-2015 notice specifies — and the percentage increase between them is then rounded to the nearest tenth of a percentage point. Here the comparison average did not exceed the base, so the statutory result is zero.

Reproduced from the raw index

Recomputing this adjustment from the committed CPI-W series returns 0.0%, matching SSA’s published figure. That check runs on all 51 determinations as a blocking build gate, so no page here can ship a figure the arithmetic does not support.

The 2016 figures this adjustment set

Most Social Security parameters move with the adjustment or with the national average wage index. These are the committed values for 2016, each traced to the government table it came from.

Committed Social Security and Medicare parameters for 2016
Parameter2016
Maximum earnings subject to Social Security tax$118,500
SSI federal payment rate — individual$733
SSI federal payment rate — couple$1,100
Earnings needed for one Social Security credit$1,260
Retirement earnings test — under full retirement age$15,720
Retirement earnings test — year of full retirement age$41,880
Substantial gainful activity — non-blind$1,130
Substantial gainful activity — blind$1,820
Trial work period — a service month$810
First PIA bend point (eligibility at 62 this year)$856
Second PIA bend point (eligibility at 62 this year)$5,157
Medicare Part B standard monthly premium$121.80
Medicare Part B annual deductible$166

Where to go next

Sources and freshness

Figures effective December 2015. Page figures last verified against the sources above on 10 August 2026. BLS data retrieved 10 August 2026. BLS.gov cannot vouch for data or analyses derived from these data after retrieval. Corrections: the correction log · support@inventum.com.au