FERS COLA 2026: the diet COLA, the age 62 rule and the 2027 increase
A FERS annuity is indexed to inflation, but not fully, and not before 62 for most retirees. Type your annuity and an inflation rate to see what is left after twenty years.
FERS COLA when inflation is 2.8 %
2.0 %
Paid from age 62 on a regular annuity. Social Security and CSRS would get 2.8 %.
| Annuity at 67 | $40,542 |
| Annuity at 77 | $49,420 |
| With full CPI at 77 | $62,541 |
| Purchasing power lost after 20 years | 21.0 % |
| Age | FERS annuity | If indexed to the full CPI |
|---|---|---|
| 57 | $36,000 | $36,000 |
| 59 | $36,000 | $38,044 |
| 61 | $36,000 | $40,205 |
| 63 | $37,454 | $42,488 |
| 65 | $38,968 | $44,900 |
| 67 | $40,542 | $47,450 |
| 69 | $42,180 | $50,144 |
| 71 | $43,884 | $52,991 |
| 73 | $45,657 | $56,001 |
| 75 | $47,501 | $59,180 |
| 77 | $49,420 | $62,541 |
Prepared by Radif Partners · How the figures are built · read on opm.gov, ecfr.gov and ssa.gov · not an official determination
The FERS cost-of-living adjustment follows the CPI-W like Social Security, with a cap known as the diet COLA: when inflation is 2 % or less, the annuity rises by the full CPI; between 2 % and 3 %, it rises by 2 %; above 3 %, it rises by the CPI minus one point. For 2026, Social Security and CSRS got 2.8 % and FERS annuities got 2.0 %. For 2027, SSA announced 3.6 % on October 14, 2026, which gives FERS retirees 2.6 % under the formula; OPM had not yet published its own letter. A regular retiree receives no COLA at all before 62, so a $36,000 annuity started at 57 is still $36,000 at 61 while prices keep rising. Law enforcement officers, firefighters and air traffic controllers retiring under the special provisions, disability annuitants and survivors get the adjustment at any age. The first COLA after retirement is prorated: one-twelfth for each month the annuity was paid. The FERS supplement never receives a COLA.
The diet COLA formula
Every year SSA compares the average CPI-W of July, August and September with the same quarter of the year of the last increase. The result, rounded to a tenth of a point, is the Social Security and CSRS COLA. FERS then applies its own scale, written in 5 U.S.C. 8462(b). The increase takes effect on December 1 and is first paid with the benefit of early January.
| Inflation (CPI-W) | Social Security and CSRS | FERS annuity |
|---|---|---|
| 1.5 % | 1.5 % | 1.5 % |
| 2.0 % | 2.0 % | 2.0 % |
| 2.5 % | 2.5 % | 2.0 % |
| 2.8 % | 2.8 % | 2.0 % |
| 3.0 % | 3.0 % | 2.0 % |
| 3.6 % | 3.6 % | 2.6 % |
| 5.0 % | 5.0 % | 4.0 % |
The cut is zero in a low-inflation year and never more than one point. The loss comes from repetition: a retiree who lives thirty years in retirement absorbs that gap every year it applies. In any year above 3 % the gap is exactly one point; in a year at 2.5 %, it is half a point.
2026 and 2027 in numbers
For the increase paid from January 2026, SSA set 2.8 %, which sits in the band between 2 % and 3 %, so FERS annuitants received 2.0 %. OPM's annuity payments page states the 2.0 % for FERS and FERS special annuitants on the roll for at least a year. For 2027, the SSA release of October 14, 2026 gives 3.6 %. That is above 3 %, so the FERS rate is 3.6 % minus one point: 2.6 %. The figure follows directly from the statute; OPM's own benefits administration letter for 2027 had not been posted when we last checked, and the rate shown here should be read as the result of the formula until it is.
No COLA before 62 on a regular retirement
Section 8462(c)(3) withholds the adjustment from any annuitant under 62 who retired under sections 8412, 8413 or 8414. That covers the immediate retirement at the MRA with 30 years or at 60 with 20 years, the reduced MRA+10 retirement, the deferred annuity and the early-out retirement. The first increase arrives in the December after your 62nd birthday. Nothing is paid back for the years before.
The exceptions are written in the same paragraph. Retirees under section 8412(d)(1) or (e), which are the special provisions for law enforcement officers, firefighters, Capitol and Supreme Court Police, nuclear materials couriers, customs and border protection officers and air traffic controllers, receive the COLA from the first year. Disability annuities and survivor annuities sit outside the three sections covered, so the age limit does not apply to them either.
Your annuity after twenty years of diet COLAs
FERS COLA when inflation is 2.8 %
2.0 %
| Annuity at 67 | $40,542 |
| Annuity at 77 | $49,420 |
| With full CPI at 77 | $62,541 |
| Purchasing power lost after 20 years | 21.0 % |
What a $36,000 annuity is worth after 20 years
Take a regular retiree who starts a $36,000 annuity at 57 and assume prices rise 2.8 % every year, the 2026 rate. From 57 to 61 the annuity does not move. At 62 it is $36,720, at 67 $40,542 and at 77 $49,420. An annuity indexed to the full CPI from the first day would be $62,541 at 77. The FERS retiree has lost about 21 % of purchasing power in twenty years, a share that keeps growing as long as inflation stays above 2 %.
| Age | Regular FERS | Special provisions | Full CPI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 57 | $36,000 | $36,000 | $36,000 |
| 62 | $36,720 | $39,747 | $41,330 |
| 67 | $40,542 | $43,884 | $47,450 |
| 72 | $44,761 | $48,451 | $54,475 |
| 77 | $49,420 | $53,494 | $62,541 |
The same annuity under the special provisions receives the diet COLA from the start: $39,747 at 62 and $53,494 at 77. The difference with the regular retiree comes entirely from the five years without an increase, which push every later COLA onto a smaller base.
The first COLA is prorated
An annuity that has never been increased receives, in its first December, one-twelfth of the rate for each month it was payable before the increase, with a partial month counted as a full one and a maximum of twelve. An annuity first payable in June 2026 to someone already past 62 has six months on the roll before December 1, so the first increase would be about 1.3 % in place of 2.6 %. For a regular retiree under 62, there is no first COLA to prorate until the age condition is met. Our calculator ignores this proration and treats every year as a full year.
What the COLA does not touch
The FERS supplement is excluded: it is set when it starts and stays flat until it ends at 62. The Social Security benefit you claim later follows its own, uncapped COLA. TSP savings are not indexed at all; their value depends on the funds you hold.
Using the figure in a retirement plan
When you compare leaving at the MRA with staying longer, look at the annuity in today's dollars at 62 and at 80, not only at the first payment. The FERS retirement calculator gives the starting annuity; the COLA calculator above shows how far it drifts from prices. If inflation sits between 2 % and 3 % for most of your retirement, the gap with full indexing grows by up to a point a year. If it stays under 2 %, there is no gap after 62.