2025 Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA)

The 2025 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for eligible retirees, beneficiaries, and other payees with a retirement date of April 1, 2025 or earlier will be reflected in retirement benefit payments on April 30, 2025:

• Safety retirees and General Tier 1* retirees: 3.0%

The COLA awarded to Safety retirees and General Tier 1 (Legacy) retirees is based on the year-over-year change (as of December) in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim region. If the CPI change, after being rounded to the nearest half percent, is more than the 3.0% COLA maximum, the excess will be “banked” and applied to a COLA in a future year when the annual CPI change is less than 3.0%. The regional CPI change from December 2023 to December 2024 was 3.5% after rounding. The Board of Retirement approved the 3.0% COLA at its meeting on February 24, 2025.

• General Tier 2 and Tier 8* retirees (eligible SEIU and CNA service**): 2.0%

The COLA awarded to eligible General Tier 2 (Legacy) and Tier 8 (PEPRA) retirees represented by SEIU or CNA is 2.0%. This percentage is not subject to CPI changes. The 2.0% General Tier 2 and Tier 8 COLA increases are automatic under the terms of the Board of Retirement Regulation and applicable labor agreements, and require no additional Board approval. For SEIU retirees, this applies to any eligible service rendered on or after March 16, 2003 (for retirements on or after March 13, 2005). For CNA retirees, this applies to any eligible service rendered on or after June 25, 2023.

If you would like to learn more about VCERA’s annual COLAs, click here or contact VCERA.

*For more information about benefit tiers, click here.
**SEIU is the Service Employees International Union. CNA is the California Nurses Association.