COLA Insight

COLA Insight Data

Open data, calculation notes, charts, and an embeddable widget for tracking the 2027 Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA).

Live project: COLA Insight
Current forecast and CPI-W tracker: 2027 Social Security COLA forecast
Public asset library: Data, charts, downloads, and widget

Archived dataset: Latest Zenodo record · Version 2026.10.16

Public MCP server: Connect an AI assistant

Official Registry: io.github.ge3m0r/cola-insight

COLA Insight is an independent educational project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by the Social Security Administration (SSA), Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), or the U.S. government.

What is in this repository

This repository publishes the parts of COLA Insight that are most useful for independent verification and reuse:

• preserved 2027 COLA forecast and calculation snapshots;
• a complete benefit-impact table from $100 through $5,000;
• the public JSON data contract and an example record;
• calculation methodology and status definitions;
• publication-ready SVG charts;
• a copy-and-paste version of the live COLA widget;
• public MCP distribution metadata and connection documentation.

The production website, Cloudflare Worker deployment, D1 configuration, scheduled refresh system, rate limiting, analytics, and editorial/SEO application source are intentionally maintained separately.

Current public endpoints

The files in this repository are publishable snapshots. The permanent URLs above are the authoritative, automatically updated versions.

Data status matters

Every record uses exactly one status:

• forecast — an independent estimate while one or more required Q3 CPI-W observations are unavailable;
• computed — all three observations are available and the statutory formula can be reproduced, but SSA confirmation is still pending;
• official — SSA has published the benefit-year COLA.

Do not describe a forecast or computed record as an official SSA announcement.

See methodology/status-definitions.md and schema/data-dictionary.md before reusing the data.

Quick examples

Fetch the current record:

const response = await fetch("https://www.colainsight.com/api/cola");
const record = await response.json();

console.log(record.status, record.rate.displayed);

Embed the live tracker:

<iframe
  src="https://www.colainsight.com/embed/2027-cola"
  title="2027 Social Security COLA tracker by COLA Insight"
  width="100%"
  height="430"
  style="border:0;max-width:720px"
  loading="lazy"
></iframe>

Connect an MCP-compatible assistant using the remote Streamable HTTP endpoint:

https://www.colainsight.com/mcp

The MCP server is public, read-only, and requires no API key. It provides four tools for the current COLA record, educational benefit calculations, preserved snapshot history, and primary sources. See mcp/README.md for the tool list, example configuration, privacy guidance, and versioning policy.

Primary sources

• BLS Public Data API — CPI-W series CWUR0000SA0
• SSA latest COLA determination
• CMS Medicare premiums and deductibles
• FRED CPI-W series — retrieval fallback and cross-check

The source used to retrieve each stored observation is included with the record. A fallback changes the retrieval path, not the underlying BLS series.

Citation

Suggested citation for the archived 2026.10.16 dataset:

COLA Insight. (2026). COLA Insight 2027 Social Security COLA Dataset: CPI-W History and Benefit Amount Table (Version 2026.10.16). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23431339

Use the concept DOI when linking to the latest available version, and the version DOI when citing this exact release.

For machine-readable citation metadata, see CITATION.cff. Questions and corrections can be sent to support@colainsight.com.

Licensing

• Example code and widget snippets: MIT License
• Original documentation, charts, and explanatory content: CC BY 4.0
• Government facts and source data may have their own public-domain or agency terms; attribution to the responsible agency should be preserved.
• The COLA Insight name and logo are not granted for reuse as a product identity. See TRADEMARKS.md.

Attribution is appreciated and helps readers verify freshness, but no specific keyword-rich anchor text is required.