Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) for 2021 is based on the increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI-W) from the third quarter of 2019 through the third quarter of 2020, and Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries will receive a 1.3 percent COLA for 2021. That amounts to about a $20 increase per check. Several lawmakers have introduced legislation to authorize an emergency 3% increase. The COLA will begin with benefits payable to more than 64 million Social Security beneficiaries in January 2021. Increased payments to more than 8 million SSI beneficiaries will begin on December 31, 2020.