If you are a PERS member receiving a monthly pension benefit, you will see an increase in your benefit payments due to the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) each August.
Your COLA will go into effect July 1 and will be included in your August 1 benefit payment.
PERS bases cost-of-living adjustments on a regional Consumer Price Index (CPI) set by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for the prior year. PERS uses the West Region CPI, which was adjusted to 4.29% for 2024. However, COLAs are limited to a maximum of 2% each year.
If you retired before October 1, 2013, you will receive the maximum COLA of 2%.
If you earned service credit before and after October 1, 2013, your COLA will be calculated like this:
- 2% on service credit earned up to October 1, 2013, except for some OPSRP members*.
- 1.25% on service credit earned after that date. And if your annual benefit is more than $60,000, you will receive 0.15% COLA on benefits exceeding that amount.
For Tier One/Tier Two members, the difference between the 2% maximum and the 8.01% CPI will be banked in what is called a CPI carryover. Your CPI carryover is used to provide you with the maximum 2% COLA in years when CPI is less than 2%. The CPI carryover does not apply to OPSRP members.
The table below provides the CPI rates for the past 10 years, including the current year.
West Region Consumer Price Index Rates (CPI) by Year
| Year | CPI |
|---|
| 2024 | 4.29% |
| 2023 | 8.01% |
| 2022 | 4.52% |
| 2021 | 1.74% |
| 2020 | 2.69% |
| 2019 | 3.35% |
| 2018 | 4.17% |
| 2017 | 2.14% |
| 2016 | 1.23% |
| 2015 | 2.41% |
| 2014 | 2.50% |
*If you are an OPSRP member (hired after August 28, 2003) and your effective retirement date was on or after August 1, 2022, your COLA on service credit earned up to October 1, 2013, will not be 2%. It will be prorated based on the number of months for which you are due a benefit payment through July 1, 2023.