Updated October 30, 2026. Quick answer: Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System retirees receive a standard, statutory 1.5% cost-of-living adjustment each July 1, if they have been retired at least one full year; a retiree with less time gets a prorated share. KRS 161.620(2) sets the 1.5%, so the July 2027 COLA follows the same rule for members who joined before January 1, 2022 (the board may adjust the value for members who join on or after that date). The supplemental benefit component is excluded.
More on public pension retirement ages and eligibility: the Kentucky TRS retirement age and eligibility rules for TRS 4.
The KTRS rule
The KTRS cost-of-living page says: “A standard, statutory 1.5% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) is provided annually on July 1 to retirees who have been retired for at least one full year prior to July 1.” “For members who were retired for less than a full year, the COLA is prorated to how much of the prior fiscal year you were retired.” “if you retire on Jan. 1, you would receive only one-half of the COLA (0.75%) that would become effective on the following July 1.”
What the statute says
KRS 161.620 reads: “Effective July 1, 2002, and annually on July 1 thereafter, the retirement allowance of each retired member and of each beneficiary of a retirement option shall be increased in the amount of one and one-half percent (1.5%)”. “provided the retired member had been retired for at least the full twelve (12) months immediately preceding the date that the increase is effective.”
It adds a limit: “This subsection shall not apply to benefits from the supplemental benefit component, and the board may adjust this value for individuals who become members on or after January 1, 2022, as provided by KRS 161.633 or 161.634, as applicable.”
Budget-funded increases in 2008 and 2009
Separate subsections allowed increases whose level was set by budget funding. The 2008 subsection reads: “Effective July 1, 2008, the monthly allowance of each retired member and each recipient of a retirement option of the retired member may be increased in an amount not to exceed three and one-half percent (3.5%) of the monthly allowance in effect the previous month, provided the retired member had been retired for at least the full twelve (12) months immediately preceding the date that the increase is effective.” “The level of increase provided for in this subsection shall be determined by the funding provided in the 2008-2010 biennium budget appropriation.”
Where 2027 stands
The July 2027 KTRS COLA is set by statute at 1.5% for members who joined before January 1, 2022, payable each July 1 under KRS 161.620(2); the board may adjust the value for members who join on or after that date, and this page updates if the law changes. The KTRS page does not print a separate notice for 2027, because the rule is a standing one.
A worked example
As a computed illustration (not a source figure), a retiree with a monthly benefit of $2,000 (invented, for the computation) receiving the 1.5% COLA would see an increase of $30 (computed) a month.
Common mistakes
- Expecting the full 1.5% in the first year. A retiree with less than a full year gets a prorated share.
- Applying the COLA to the supplemental benefit component. The statute excludes it.
- Assuming the rule is the same for people who join on or after January 1, 2022. The board may adjust the value for them.
Related: Kentucky KTRS retirement decisions, how public pension decisions work, and whether Kentucky taxes pensions.
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Answer againSources
- Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Kentucky, Cost-of-Living Adjustments: trs.ky.gov
- Kentucky Legislative Research Commission, KRS 161.620 Retirement allowances for university and nonuniversity retired members, Increases, Payments for adult dependents: apps.legislature.ky.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.