Inflation has lowered Social Security benefits’ buying power by a substantial 36% since 2000, according to The Senior Citizens League.

The average senior citizen relying on Social Security benefits would need $517 more per month to cover the cost of daily items that have risen at higher rates than Social Security’s annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), CNN reports.

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This has hurt many older Americans living on a fixed income who depend heavily on their monthly Social Security checks.

The Social Security Administration gave beneficiaries COLAs of 5.9% in 2022 and 8.7% in 2023, the highest annual boosts since the early 1980s — but the cost of food, medicine, transportation, gas, heating oil, housing and other essentials has increased at far higher rates, the league says, citing U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

Eggs are 110% more expensive in the past year; bread is up 18%; and dental visits cost 16% more. Electricity bills have spiked 13%, and car repairs have also become that much more costly.

In the aggregate, goods and services that the typical retiree buys have increased by a whopping 141% between January 2000 and February 2023 — far outpacing the 78% increase in Social Security benefit checks in that time.

Everyone is getting pinched — $100 worth of groceries in 2000 would buy only $64 worth of food today, The Senior Citizens League calculates.

The league expects that as inflation has been coming down, moderating to 5% in April, cost-of-living adjustments for 2024 will also be lower, making it even harder for seniors dependent on Social Security to pay their bills.

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