Primary Data Sources
Use the same primary publications that our tables and calculations use.
Check the sources.
Data checked October 1, 2026.
- SSA: COLA and benefit rules
- SSA: COLA and benefit rules
- BLS: CPI-W data
- SSA: payment schedule
- OPM: federal retirement and calendar rules
- CMS: Medicare premiums and costs
- CMS: Medicare Trustees Report
- SSA: COLA and benefit rules
- SSA: retirement and Medicare rules
- SSA: retirement and Medicare rules
- SSA: COLA and benefit rules
- IRS: tax and retirement rules
- IRS: retirement distributions
- OPM: federal retirement and calendar rules
- DFAS / DoD: military retirement
- DFAS / DoD: military retirement
Official and projected records
Each data file stores a status, source, announcement date when available, and retrieval date. Records without a publication day leave announced_on empty instead of inventing one. Pages show the last checked date.
What changes next
September CPI-W completes the 2027 COLA comparison. SSA determines the official COLA in October; CMS publishes the next year’s final premiums and IRMAA amounts separately. Calendar dates are computed from the published rules.