Locality-based Social Security Benefits Act of 2025
The Locality-based Social Security Benefits Act of 2025 would change how monthly old-age, survivors, and disability insurance (OASDI) payments under Title II of the Social Security Act are calculated. Instead of only paying the standard benefit, the Commissioner of Social Security would increase each beneficiary’s monthly payment by the locality-based comparability payment percentage applicable to the locality pay area where the recipient lives. That percentage is the same one used for federal employees under 5 U.S.C. 5304 and 5304a, and locality pay areas are defined in 5 C.F.R. 531.603. In short, benefits would be adjusted up (potentially by different amounts in different geographic areas) based on the locality pay rates rather than a uniform across-the-board increase. The bill explicitly overrides other provisions in Title II for this adjustment, directing SSA to apply the locality-based percentage to each individual’s benefit amount for the time of the increase. The policy lever here is geographic cost-of-living differences, with higher increases in higher-cost urban areas and smaller increases in lower-cost areas, tied to federal locality pay determinations.
Key Points
- 1Applies to monthly OASDI payments under Title II of the Social Security Act.
- 2Increase is by the locality-based comparability payment percentage determined by the President under 5 U.S.C. 5304 and 5304a, for the locality pay area where the recipient resides.
- 3Locality pay areas are those established in 5 C.F.R. 531.603.
- 4The increase is applied to the amount to which the individual is otherwise entitled under Title II, effectively raising the beneficiary’s payment rather than simply adjusting the base figure by a fixed amount.
- 5The bill uses a “Notwithstanding” clause, directing the SSA Commissioner to implement this adjustment in place of the standard Title II framework for determining monthly benefits, based on the locality pay rate.