Calculator

COLA Growth Estimator

Project how annual cost-of-living adjustments may change your retired pay over time.

Free, no sign-in, and built on the current VA rate tables. The calculator runs in your browser on this page.

How cost-of-living adjustments work

VA compensation, Social Security, CSRS annuities and military retired pay receive the full cost-of-living adjustment each year, tied to the CPI-W. For 2026 that adjustment was 2.8 percent.

FERS annuities use a reduced formula (5 U.S.C. 8462): the full increase when the CPI rise is 2 percent or less, a flat 2 percent when the rise is between 2 and 3 percent, and the CPI rise minus one point when it is above 3 percent. FERS retirees also generally receive no COLA until age 62, except for disability and special-provision retirements.

This projection applies the COLA you choose every year to a starting monthly payment and shows the payment and the cumulative total over the period.

A worked example

$2,000 a month over 20 years at a 2.8 percent COLA

1. With a full COLA the payment reaches about $3,470 a month in year 20 and pays about $631,000 in total.
2. Under the FERS formula the same 2.8 percent becomes 2 percent a year: about $2,970 a month in year 20 and about $583,000 in total.
3. The gap, roughly $48,000, is the cost of the FERS rule over that period.

What this estimate leaves out

• Future COLAs are unknown. The rate you enter is an assumption, and the actual figure is announced each October from the third-quarter CPI-W.
• The FERS age-62 rule is not modeled; the projection applies the reduced formula from the first year.

Questions veterans ask

Does VA disability compensation get a COLA?

Yes, the same percentage as Social Security, effective December 1 each year and paid from the January payment.

Why is the FERS COLA smaller?

By statute. Congress set the reduced formula when it created FERS in 1986, in exchange for the TSP match and Social Security coverage that CSRS employees did not get.

When is the COLA announced?

In October, once the September CPI-W is published, and it applies to payments beginning in January.

Read next

• This year's VA compensation rates
• Estimate the pension the COLA applies to

Sources

• Cost-of-living adjustment information, Social Security Administration
• 5 U.S.C. 8462, cost-of-living adjustments (FERS)
• Cost-of-living adjustments, U.S. Office of Personnel Management

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• Back Pay: Retroactive pay from your Intent to File date.
• Hearing Loss Rating: Your audiogram through VA's Tables VI and VII.
• Military Buy-Back: Cost and payoff of buying back active-duty time.
• FERS Pension: Pension from High-3, years, and multiplier.
• TSP Growth: Thrift Savings Plan balance over time.
• GI Bill: Post-9/11 tuition and housing allowance.
• Sick Leave Credit: Unused sick leave as FERS service credit.

YourVABenefits is software you run on your own records. It is not part of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and does not file claims. You file on VA.gov, or an accredited representative files for you at no charge.