Veterans Disability Compensation & Retirees 2017 COLA Announced

VA Disability Compensation recipients, military retirees, and veterans will receive a 0.3% COLA increase for 2017.

The just-released figures by the government show that the Consumer Price Index, which the government bases Social Security, and several other benefit payments on, rose by just 0.3% in the third quarter of 2016 compared to the third quarter of the previous year, so the increased payments for 2017 will be very small. There was no increase from 2015 - 2016.

The Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, or CPI-W is a broad measure of consumer prices generated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The CPI-W measures price changes for food, housing, clothing, transportation, energy, medical care, recreation and education. The government figures show that the price of gasoline went down 18% in 2016, a large factor in the CPI-W calculation.

The average VA compensation recipient will receive an increase of about $2.89 monthly, while a veteran with 10% disability will see their monthly compensation rate go from $133.17 to around $133.57 a month. See our Veterans Disability Compensation page for more information. Note: The VA has not released the 2017 disability compensation rates yet, we will update our information as soon as it is available.

A retired E-7 with 20 years of military service will see about $13.00 more in their monthly retirement pay. Civil service retirees will also see an increase.

Social security recipients will see an increase of less than $4 a month in their benefit, however for some beneficiaries, their Social Security increase may be partially or completely offset by increases in Medicare premiums. See our Medicare page for more details.

President Obama has proposed a 1.6% pay raise for active duty and reserve members. To see the proposed pay raise, see our Proposed Pay Charts page.