The 3.6% COLA: what it means for VA and retired pay

What SSA announced

SSA’s press release, dated October 14, 2026, says Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits will rise 3.6% for 2027. The fact sheet says the figure is based on the increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) from the third quarter of 2025 through the third quarter of 2026. Social Security payments rise beginning in January 2027, and SSI payments begin to rise on December 31, 2026.

That 3.6% is Social Security’s number. It is not a VA rate and it is not a military retired-pay percentage. It matters here because VA’s bills point at it, and retired pay uses a related price index.

VA compensation: the percentage is not automatic

VA compensation rates don’t rise by formula. Congress sets each year’s increase in a separate Act. Last year’s, the Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2025 (Public Law 119-42, approved November 25, 2025), told VA to raise the rates effective December 1, 2025 by the same percentage as Social Security’s increase, and to publish the new amounts in the Federal Register.

That Act covered December 1, 2025 only. For December 1, 2026, the bills are H.R. 8552 and S. 4487. As introduced, H.R. 8552 has the same design: it would raise the dollar amounts in 38 U.S.C. 1114 and 1115(1) by the same percentage as Social Security’s increase. Govinfo’s bill-status data, read October 14, 2026 (House record updated September 19, Senate record May 18), shows the latest recorded House action as a subcommittee markup on June 30, 2026, forwarding the bill to the full committee. S. 4487 shows only its referral to the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee on May 11, 2026. It shows no floor action on either bill. A bill can change as it moves, so the text above is what was introduced, not a promise.

What follows for you:

• VA’s rates today are the December 1, 2025 rates. VA’s rate page, last updated December 2, 2025, still shows them as of October 14, 2026.
• Nothing here confirms that 3.6% will apply to VA. It will only if an Act with that rule is signed, and VA then publishes its table.
• VA publishes the exact dollar amounts. For the December 1, 2025 increase, VA’s rate page was updated on December 2, 2025, and the Federal Register↗ notice followed on February 17, 2026, with the rates already in effect from December 1.

For reference, these are the current amounts, labeled as current: 70% alone $1,808.45 a month, 70% with a spouse and one child under 18 $2,074.45, and 100% alone $3,938.58, all effective December 1, 2025. They are not the amounts after any increase. The VA rates guide has the whole table and the dependents guide shows what raises the rate besides the rating.

Military retired pay: its own formula

Retired pay doesn’t use SSA’s figure or an annual Act. Under 10 U.S.C. 1401a, the Secretary of Defense raises retired pay each December 1 by the percentage, rounded to the nearest 0.1%, by which the Consumer Price Index for the base quarter exceeds the base index. The base quarter is the calendar quarter ending September 30, and a quarter’s index is the average of its three months.

The plan matters. Final Pay, High-3 and Blended Retirement System (BRS) retirees get the full percentage, and REDUX (Career Status Bonus plan) retirees normally get one percentage point less. DoD’s militarypay page also notes a one-time readjustment for REDUX at age 62. The first COLA after you retire can be smaller; the retirement COLA guide explains the first-year rule.

Where things stand on October 14, 2026:

• For December 1, 2025, SSA’s COLA and the retired-pay COLA were both 2.8%, and the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) announced it as a 2.8% COLA for most retired pay and Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) annuities.
• The statute names the Consumer Price Index (all items, U.S. city average); DoD’s militarypay page names the CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). DoD announces the retired-pay percentage and DFAS applies it.
• The newest issue in DFAS’s retiree newsletter index on October 14 was September 2026. None of the issue headlines listed announces a December 1, 2026 COLA. DFAS’s page header now reads “Department of War,” the name DoD uses for itself in recent materials.

Last year DFAS said retirees would see the change in their December 31 payment and SBP annuitants in their January 2, 2026 payment. Whether the same dates apply this year is for DFAS to say.

Who announces what, and when

What this guide does not do

It doesn’t apply 3.6% to anything. If your payment changes on or after December 1, 2026, the amount comes from VA’s table or from DFAS, not from a calculation here. The VA disability pay calculator uses the December 1, 2025 table and reports dates from December 1, 2026 on as not yet published. The retirement calculator’s optional COLA field is your own assumption, not a published rate. We add each new VA table, and log it on the change log, once VA publishes it.

Next step

Check your current monthly VA amount in the VA disability pay calculator. To see how the High-3 and BRS formulas work on your own numbers, use the military retirement calculator; DFAS shows your actual retired pay in myPay.