The List of All the Big Changes Social Security Has Already Announced for 2025

In order to properly prepare for the upcoming year, current and potential receivers of Social Security should be aware of the changes that will be made in 2025. By 2025, the program will change in the following seven ways:

1. Cost-of-living adjustment

As inflation continues to decline, Social Security claimants will get a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) of 2.5% in 2025, down from 3.2% in 2024. According to the Social Security Administration, the average retirement benefit will rise by $49 per month beginning in January, from $1,927 to $1,946. A return to pre-pandemic inflation rates is indicated by the fact that this is the lowest COLA in four years.

The annual COLA has averaged 2.6% since 2000, with significant rises in 2022 and 2023 brought on by growing consumer prices. All Social Security benefits, including retirement, survivor, family, and disability benefits, as well as Supplemental Security Income (SSI), which helps low-income people 65 years of age or older who are blind or disabled, are impacted by the COLA. A summary of the increase and average benefits may be found below.

Beneficiary	Before 2.5% COLA	After 2.5% COLA
Retired worker	$1,927	$1,976
Married couple, both receiving benefits	$3,014	$3,089
Survivor benefit, older spouse	$1,788	$1,832
Survivor benefits, widowed parent and two qualifying children	$3,669	$3,761
Worker receiving disability benefits	$1,542	$1,580
SSI maximum federal benefit, individual*	$943	$967
SSI maximum federal benefit, married couple*	$1,415	$1,415

2. Medicare premiums

The regular monthly cost for Medicare Part B, which covers outpatient care and doctor visits, will go up from $174.70 to $185 in January. For those with a low COLA, this is bad news. For many, the additional $10.30 a month will drastically lower the COLA gain.

3. Service at Social Security offices

In order to reduce crowding, the SSA has advised people in need of assistance to call ahead and make an appointment since the end of the pandemic. But by 2025, this recommendation will be required.An email was issued to advocacy groups and posted on the agency’s website on November 13 by Dawn Bystry, SSA associate commissioner in the Office of Strategic and Digital Communications. Customers will need to make an appointment for service in our field offices starting on Monday, January 6. This includes requesting Social Security cards.

In its more than 1,200 field offices, the objective is to shorten wait times, expedite service delivery, and enhance the general customer experience. Those who have already put it into practice have seen results.

Although walk-ins won’t be denied care, Making an appointment will prevent individuals from waiting for hours on end. According to Bystry, offices won’t deny service to those who can’t make an appointment. Our field offices remain open for anyone in need of immediate or specialized treatment, including members of vulnerable groups, military personnel, people with terminal diseases, and others.

4. Full retirement age

Based on your lifetime earnings, you are entitled to the full Social Security retirement payout when you reach full retirement age (FRA). Every birth year, FRA has risen by two months. The age difference between persons born in 1958 and 1959 is 66 years and 8 months and 66 years and 10 months, respectively. By 2025, FRA will be attained by those born between May 2, 1958, and February 28, 1959. According to current rules, people born in 1960 or after have a FRA of 67.

Benefits are permanently reduced by up to 30%, but you can start receiving them as early as age 62. Annual payments are increased by 8% if benefits are postponed past FRA until age 70, at which point maximum benefits are payable.

5. Social Security taxes

The 12.4% tax on the income of the majority of workers supports Social Security. Employers match the 6.2% that employees contribute through FICA payroll withholding. The full 12.4% is paid by self-employed people on their tax returns.

Although the income subject to this tax rate has remained constant since 1990, it is modified yearly based on national wage trends. The taxable earnings maximum will rise from $168,600 in 2024 to $176,100 in 2025. Earnings from investments and income over the threshold are not subject to Social Security taxes.

6. Social Security earnings test

For recipients who work while receiving retirement, survivor, or family benefits prior to attaining the full retirement age (FRA), Social Security has an earnings test. Benefits for those not yet enrolled in FRA will be reduced by $1 for every $2 earned over $23,400 in 2025, up from $22,320 in 2024. Benefits would be reduced by $8,300, or half of the excess income beyond the threshold, for instance, if one earned $40,000 in 2025.

The earnings test is less stringent in the year a recipient gets closer to FRA, withholding $1 for every $3 earned beyond $62,160 (up from $59,520 in 2024) until the month FRA is reached. There is no earnings cap after FRA is reached. Adjusted monthly payments are used to progressively restore withheld benefits.

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) has different income requirements. The wages cap is set at $1,620 per month in 2025, and for blind beneficiaries, it rises to $2,700. Earnings over these limits could put SSDI payments at risk.

7. Qualifying for benefits

After 10 years, the majority of workers reach the eligibility criterion because the minimum to qualify for benefits is still 40 credits, and you can earn up to four credits annually. The minimum income required to receive a credit does change; in 2025, it will be $1,810, meaning you will need to make at least $7,240 annually.

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