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Andy Markowitz,

Updated August 182025

AARP

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En español

Published December 042024

/ Updated August 182025

The cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) may be the most widely anticipated way Social Security changes from year to yearbut it’s far from the only one.

Inflationwage trends and new policies directly affect not just the more than 68 million people receiving Social Security benefits but also the estimated 184 million workers (and future beneficiaries) paying into the system. Social Security field offices are changing how they do businessand millions of retirees will no longer see their benefits reduced because they also get a government pension.

Here are eight important ways Social Security will be different in 2025.

1. Cost-of-living adjustment

Inflation continued to cool last yearresulting in a 2.5 percent COLA for 2025 for people receiving Social Security paymentsdown from 3.2 percent in 2024. The estimated average retirement benefit will increase by $49 a monthfrom $1,927 to $1,976starting in Januaryaccording to the Social Security Administration (SSA).

It’s the lowest COLA in four years, reflecting a return to pre-pandemic inflation trends. The average COLA since 2000 has been about 2.6 percent, even factoring in the spike in consumer prices that produced benefit increases of 5.9 percent in 2022 and 8.7 percent in 2023.

The COLA is applied to all Social Security payments — survivor benefits family benefits and disability benefits, as well as retirement benefits — and to Supplemental Security Income (SSI)a monthly benefit administered by the SSA for people with low incomes and limited assets who are 65 or olderblind or have a disability.

2. Medicare premiums

The standard monthly premium for Medicare Part Bwhich covers doctor visits and other outpatient treatment, goes up from $174.70 to $185 in January. Most Medicare enrollees pay this standard ratetypically as a deduction from their Social Security payments, so the premium increase has the effect of partially offsetting the COLAby $10.30 a month.

3. Government pensions

In December 2024Congress repealed the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO)ending policies that for more than four decades reduced benefits for many people who qualified for both Social Security and a pension from a “non-covered” job where they did not pay into Social Security via FICA withholding from their paychecks.

The two provisions affected about 3 million beneficiaries. Most are former employees of state and local government agencies that do not participate in the Social Security systemincluding many teacherspolice officers and firefighters.

Under the WEPenacted in 1983people who collected a non-covered pension and also Social Security retirement benefits (based on having other jobs where they did pay FICA taxes) could see their benefit reduced by up to one-half of the pension amount. The GPOenacted in 1977applied to those drawing such a pension and Social Security spouse benefits or survivor benefits and cut those payments by up to two-thirds of the pension amount.

The repeal lawcalled the Social Security Fairness Actis retroactive to cover 2024 benefit payments. The SSA says it has adjusted monthly benefits amounts for those previously covered by the WEP and the GPO and made lump-sum repayments for last year’s withholding. Check the agency’s Social Security Fairness Act page for more information.

4. Service at Social Security offices

Since April 2022when local Social Security offices reopened after two years of pandemic restrictions, the SSA has been recommending customers seeking in-person help call ahead rather than dropping in. In 2025that recommendation becomes a requirement in most situations.

As of Jan. 6“we will require customers to schedule an appointment for service in our field officesincluding requests for Social Security cards,” Dawn BystrySSA associate commissioner in the Office of Strategic and Digital Communicationswrote in a Nov. 13 message emailed to advocacy groups and posted on the agency’s website.

The aim is to “reduce wait timesstreamline service delivery and improve the overall customer experience” at its 1,200-plus field officesBystry saidadding that several hundred offices have already made the transition and “seen significant improvements in wait times.”

To schedule an office visitcall the SSA’s national help line at 800-772-1213 or contact your local office. You can also access many SSA services onlineif you have a My Social Security accountor by phone.

The appointment edict is not absolute. Bystry said offices “will not turn people away for service who are unable to make an appointment or do not want to make an appointment. For examplemembers of vulnerable populationsmilitary personnelpeople with terminal illnesses and individuals with other situations requiring immediate or specialized attention may still walk in for service at our field offices.”

5. Full retirement age

Full retirement ageor FRAis the age at which you become eligible to claim 100 percent of the retirement benefit calculated from your lifetime earnings. For the past several years it has been going up two months at a timebased on year of birth.

FRA is 66 years and 8 months for people born in 1958 and 66 and 10 months for those born in 1959; people born May 21958through Feb. 281959will reach it in 2025. (Under current lawit will settle at 67 for people born in 1960 and afterward.)

You can start collecting retirement benefits before FRA — the minimum age is 62 — but your monthly payment will be permanently reducedby as much as 30 percent. You can also wait past FRA and reap Social Security's bonus for delaying benefits: an extra 8 percent a year until age 70when you can claim your maximum benefit.

6. Social Security taxes

Social Security is primarily funded by a 12.4 percent tax on most workers’ earnings. If you earn wagesyou pay 6.2 percent (through FICA withholding from your paycheck) and your employer pays 6.2 percent. Self-employed people pay both shares as part of their annual tax return.

The rate has not changed since 1990, but the amount of income subject to it is adjusted annually to reflect national wage trends. In 2025you’ll pay the tax on work income up to $176,100 (up from $168,600 in 2024). Earnings above that threshold are not taxed for the purpose of funding Social Securitynor is any income from investments.

7. Social Security earnings test

Social Security applies an earnings test to beneficiaries who have not yet reached full retirement age. People who collect retirementsurvivor or family benefits before reaching that milestone and continue to work may temporarily lose a share of their Social Security benefits if their earnings exceed a certain level.

That threshold changes annuallytracking wage trends. In 2025beneficiaries who will not reach FRA until a later year have $1 withheld from their Social Security payment for every $2 in work income above $23,400 (up from $22,320 in 2024). For exampleif you earn $40,000 from work in 2025your benefits for the year would be reduced by $8,300 — half the difference between $23,400 and $40,000.

The earnings test eases in the year you reach FRA: Social Security holds back $1 in benefits for every $3 in earnings above $62,160 (up from $59,520 in 2024) until the month when you hit the milestone. At that pointthe test goes away: There’s no longer any benefit deductionno matter how much you earnand the SSA adjusts your monthly payment upward so thatover timeyou recoup the prior withholding.

There are different income rules for people receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). Because disability benefits are intended for people who are largely unable to work for an extended period due to a serious medical conditionyou can lose them if your earnings reflect what the SSA calls “substantial gainful activity.”

In 2025that threshold is $1,620 a month for most SSDI beneficiariesa $70 increase from 2024. People receiving SSDI on the basis of blindness are subject to a higher income limit: $2,700 a month in 2025$110 more than in 2024.

8. Qualifying for benefits

The first step in qualifying for Social Security retirement benefits is having at least 40 Social Security credits. You earn creditsor “quarters of coverage” in SSA parlanceby doing work in which you pay Social Security taxes on your income. You can earn up to four credits a yearso most workers reach the eligibility threshold after 10 years in the labor force.

In 2025you earn one credit for earnings of $1,810 ($80 more than the 2024 level)so you bank your maximum of four credits when your work income for the year reaches $7,240.

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