Updated October 30, 2026. Quick answer: The Florida Retirement System Pension Plan COLA is written into section 121.101 of the Florida Statutes, not voted each year. Retirees whose retirement date is before July 1, 2011 get 3% each July 1, with the first adjustment prorated by the months of benefit already received. Later retirees get 3% multiplied by the share of their service earned before July 1, 2011, and eligible Special Risk Class retirees get at least 1.5% after the fifth anniversary of retirement. The July 1, 2027 adjustment follows the same statute.
More on public pension retirement ages and eligibility: the Florida Retirement System retirement age and eligibility rules.
Retirement dates before July 1, 2011
Florida Statutes section 121.101 says: “the benefit of each retiree and annuitant whose effective retirement date is before July 1, 2011, shall be adjusted annually on July 1 as follows”. The rule: “the adjusted monthly benefit shall be the amount of the monthly benefit being received on June 30 immediately preceding the adjustment date plus an amount equal to 3 percent of this benefit”.
For a retiree who has never received an adjustment the first one is prorated, and the statute says “this percentage is derived by dividing the number of months the member has received an initial benefit by 12, and multiplying the result by 3”. That is the rule in subsection (3)(a); the rule quoted just above is paragraph (3)(b).
Retirement dates on or after July 1, 2011
For later retirements the statute builds a factor: “This factor shall equal the product of 3 percent multiplied by the quotient of the sum of the member’s service credit earned for service before July 1, 2011, divided by the sum of the member’s total service credit earned.” A Division of Retirement presentation of 2017 gives the same formula in short form: “Formula: Years of service through June 2011 divided by Years of service at retirement X 3%.”
The statute adds a Special Risk Class rule: “Commencing July 1, 2026, and in lieu of any annual adjustment authorized in paragraph (4)(b) occurring after the fifth anniversary of retirement of an eligible Special Risk Class member whose effective retirement date is on or after July 1, 2011”. The text continues: “plus the greater of the amount determined by multiplying the benefit by the factor calculated pursuant to paragraph (4)(c) or the amount equal to 1.5 percent of this benefit”. The statute defines an eligible Special Risk Class retiree as a retiree: “1. Initially enrolled in the Florida Retirement System prior to July 1, 2011, who has completed at least 72 calendar months of creditable service as a Special Risk Class member; or 2. Initially enrolled in the Florida Retirement System on or after July 1, 2011, who has completed at least 96 calendar months of creditable service as a Special Risk Class member.”
Where 2027 stands
The July 1, 2027 adjustment is fixed by the same statute, section 121.101, with no annual vote or announcement in the text read, and this page changes only if the Legislature amends that section. Retirees, including DROP participants, “receive a COLA in their July benefit each year”, as the 2017 presentation puts it.
A worked example
As computed illustrations (not source figures), a retiree with a monthly benefit of $2,000 (invented, for the computation) and a retirement date before July 1, 2011 would see a 3% increase of $60 (computed) a month. A later retiree with 10 of 20 total years of service earned before July 1, 2011 has a factor of 1.5% (3% times 10 divided by 20), an increase of $30 (computed) a month.
What this page does not cover
Subsection (6) of the statute says the retirement-date formula can expire if funding is enacted: “Subject to the availability of funding and the Legislature enacting sufficient employer contributions specifically for the purpose of funding the expiration of the cost-of-living adjustment specified in subsection (4), in accordance with s. 14, Art. X of the State Constitution, the cost-of-living adjustment formula provided for in subsection (4) shall expire effective June 30, 2016, and the benefit of each retiree and annuitant shall be adjusted on each July 1 thereafter, as provided in subsection (3).” The statute text read does not show whether that funding was enacted, so confirm your own formula with the Division of Retirement. The FRS Investment Plan is not covered.
Common mistakes
- Waiting for an FRS announcement of a 2027 COLA. The adjustment is set by statute each July 1.
- Applying 3% to all service. For later retirees the 3% is multiplied by the pre-July 2011 service share, except that eligible Special Risk Class retirees have a 1.5% floor after the fifth anniversary of retirement.
- Mixing up the Pension Plan with the Investment Plan, which this page does not cover.
Related: Florida FRS retirement decisions, how public pension decisions work, and whether Florida taxes pensions.
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Answer againSources
- Florida Legislature (leg.state.fl.us), Fla. Stat. 121.101 Cost-of-living adjustment of benefits: www.leg.state.fl.us
- Florida Department of Management Services, Division of Retirement, Understanding Your Retirement Benefits Under the FRS Pension Plan (member handbook): www.dms.myflorida.com
- Related official page (not quoted): Florida Statutes, Chapter 121 (Florida Retirement System): www.leg.state.fl.us
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.