Social Security Raise for 2020? Check Increases Will Be Noticeably Smaller Than 2019

Social Security checks, on average, will be higher in 2020 than they were in 2019. But the amount of that increase will be nearly half of the one retirees saw this year.

The Senior Citizen’s League has issued a new estimate for cost of living increases for next year, saying beneficiaries will get a 1.6% boost in 2020, compared to the 2.8% bump they saw this year.

In real world dollars and cents, that would increase the average retiree benefit of $1,460 by roughly $23.40 per month. In January of this year, those recipients saw a $40.90 increase to their Social Security benefits.

The official cost of living adjustment will be announced in under a month. However, says the League, the average increases over the past decade are less than half what they were between 2000 and 2009.

The good news, though, is Medicare Part B premiums will likely see an increase over the 2019 one. Those are expected to jump to $144.30 per month in 2020 from $135.50 this year.

“After the deduction for Part B premiums, that would leave the retirees with average benefits, roughly $15 per month more to cover all other rising costs which typically include higher Medicare supplemental and prescription drug insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs,” the league said in a statement.