Updated October 30, 2026. Quick answer: The Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association (LACERA) adjusts allowances each April 1 by the change in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim CPI, rounded to the nearest half percent, up to 3 percent for General and Safety Plans A and 2 percent for the other plans. On February 4, 2026 the Board of Retirement approved a 3.0 percent award for 2026. Plan A received 3.0 percent and Plans B, C and D received 2.0 percent. No 2027 award has been made.
The rule
LACERA’s cost-of-living page says: “By law, LACERA applies the percentage of annual increase (or, very rarely, decrease) in the cost of living, rounded to the nearest one-half of one percent, to each total retirement and survivor allowance.” Timing and eligibility: “The adjustment is effective annually on April 1 and begins with April allowances. Members who retired prior to April 1 and eligible survivors of members who died prior to April 1 are eligible for COLA.”
Maximums and the COLA Accumulation
The page states the ceilings: “General/Safety Plans A allow a maximum adjustment of 3 percent. General/Safety Plans B and C, and General Plans D, E*, and G allow a maximum of 2 percent.” Its footnote reads: “*Plan E COLA increases only apply to service credit earned on and after June 4, 2002, and any purchased Plan E Elective COLA.” Beyond them: “Any COLA percentage above the maximum allowable amount for each plan is added to the COLA Accumulation to supplement future COLA benefits or to offset any decreases.”
The 2026 award
The plan page says: “At its February 4, 2026 meeting, LACERA’s Board of Retirement approved a 3.0 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) award for 2026, which equals the maximum allowed for retirees and eligible payees in Plan A and exceeds the maximum for Plans B and C.” The basis: “The 2026 COLA award is based on the cost-of-living increase from December 2024 to December 2025, as reflected in the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all urban consumers in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro area.” For Plan D: “Plan D retirees and eligible survivors will receive the maximum allowable annual COLA amount of 2.0 percent, starting with their April 2026 payment.”
What the documents do not say
The California Government Code sections behind the rule could not be archived, so the rule is sourced to LACERA’s own pages, which say it applies by law. The Plan E, Plan G and Safety Plan C pages were not archived, and no earlier year’s COLA was read. The February 2027 timing is an inference from the 2026 vote date, not a statement by LACERA.
Where 2027 stands
No 2027 LACERA COLA is set: the Board of Retirement reviews the December CPI each year, and no archived page mentions 2027.
Common mistakes
- Assuming every plan gets the same percentage. Plans B, C and D are capped at 2 percent even when the award is 3.0 percent.
- Expecting the COLA for a member who retires on or after April 1. The member must retire before April 1.
- Reading an excess award as lost. It goes into the COLA Accumulation for later years.
Related: LACERA retirement decisions, how public pension decisions work, and whether California taxes pensions.
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Answer againSources
- LACERA, Cost-of-Living Adjustments: www.lacera.gov
- LACERA, Plans ABC | Current COLA: www.lacera.gov
- LACERA, Plans D | Current COLA: www.lacera.gov
- Related official page (not quoted): IRS Tax Topic 410, Pensions and annuities: www.irs.gov
- Related official page (not quoted): IRS Tax Topic 411, Pensions: the General Rule and the Simplified Method: www.irs.gov
Read from the primary documents linked above on October 30, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer or the IRS itself is the right place to confirm anything consequential.