The 2025 Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) came in at just 2.5%. That's well under the 3.2% retirees got last year and far less than what many were hoping for. The high inflation over the last few years has made it difficult for retirees to afford their basic expenses,

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But when we look back at the data, it becomes clear that a 2.5% Social Security COLA isn't so terrible. In fact, it's a lot more generous than some of the COLAs beneficiaries have seen in the past. In 2024, Social Security benefits rose by 3.2%. The year prior, they increased by 8.7%. And in 2022, a 5.9% COLA came through.

Social Security's annual cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) are calculated based on how inflation changes in the third quarter, the three-month period from July through September. In this scenario, inflation is measured using a subset of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) known as the CPI-W.

USA TODAY reached out to retirees across the country who are living mostly on Social Security, to ask how they were doing.