Social Security beneficiaries in the territory will receive a 3.6 percent cost-of-living increase in payments beginning in January 2027, following an announcement Wednesday by the Social Security Administration. The adjustment will raise retirement benefits nationwide by about $75 a month on average, the agency said.
The increase applies to retirement, survivor and disability benefits. Federal records show 22,695 people in the U.S. Virgin Islands received Social Security benefits in December 2025, including 18,419 retired workers. The beneficiary totals included 11,100 on St. Croix, 10,600 on St. Thomas and 995 on St. John.
Monthly benefits payable in the territory totaled approximately $37 million in December 2025. The amount of each recipient’s increase will depend on their individual benefit, while Medicare premiums and other applicable deductions will affect their final payment.
The new cost-of-living adjustment, commonly called a COLA, takes effect with December 2026 benefits, which are payable in January 2027. It exceeds the 2.8 percent adjustment reflected in payments beginning in January 2026.
Nearly 72 million Social Security beneficiaries nationwide will receive the adjustment. SSA’s 2027 fact sheet estimates that the average monthly retirement benefit will rise from $2,095 to $2,170, while the average benefit for disabled workers will increase from $1,642 to $1,701.
Federal law ties the annual adjustment to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, or CPI-W, calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This year’s increase reflects the change in the index’s average level between the third quarters of 2025 and 2026.
SSA also announced changes affecting workers and beneficiaries who continue to earn wages. The maximum annual earnings subject to Social Security tax will increase from $184,500 in 2026 to $192,300 in 2027.
For beneficiaries who remain below full retirement age throughout 2027, the annual earnings limit will rise to $25,560, with $1 in benefits withheld for every $2 earned above that amount. For those reaching full retirement age during 2027, the limit will be $67,920 for earnings before the month they reach that age, with $1 withheld for every $3 above the limit. Beginning with the month a beneficiary reaches full retirement age, earnings no longer trigger that withholding.
Beneficiaries will be able to review their individual COLA notices through the Message Center in their personal my Social Security accounts beginning in late November. SSA said people who need to establish an account should do so and enroll in paperless notices by November 18 to receive the notice online.
Those who have not enrolled in paperless notices will receive mailed notices in December. The notices will identify individual benefit amounts, payment dates and deductions; Medicare enrollees’ 2027 premium information will also be available through the online Message Center beginning in late November.
