WASHINGTON — Social Security checks for nearly 49 million retirees are going up by 3.3% next year — an average increase of $33 a month, though rising health care costs will take a bite out of the gain.

The monthly benefit for the typical retiree will rise to $1,044 from an average of $1,011 this year.

The cost of living adjustment announced yesterday by the Social Security Administration will go to more than 53 million people. Nearly 49 million receive Social Security benefits and the rest Supplemental Security Income payments aimed at the poor.

The 3.3% increase compares with a 4.1% benefit rise in for 2006, which had been the biggest increase in 15 years.

Benefit payments, tied to inflation since 1975, surged by double-digit amounts in the high-inflation years of 1980 and 1981, but increases have been more moderate in recent years as the Federal Reserve has had more success keeping inflation under control.

The COLA amount is based on the change in the Consumer Price Index from the July-September quarter of this year compared with the same quarter in 2005.

Last year, prices surged in September, reflecting a big spike in energy costs after Hurricane Katrina.

But this year, energy prices, which initially leaped because of rising Middle East tensions, have been falling since late summer.Those declines helped pull consumer prices down by 0.5% in September, the biggest drop in 10 months.

Falling energy prices should help retirees deal with winter heating bills, which for the first time in years are expected to be lower this winter.

The average retired couple, both receiving Social Security benefits, will see their monthly check increase to $1,713 from $1,658. The standard SSI payment will increase to $623 a month from $603 for an individual and to $934 from $904 for a couple. The average monthly check for a disabled worker will rise to $979 from $947.

Eleven million taxpayers will pay higher taxes next year because the maximum amount of Social Security earnings subject to the payroll tax will rise to $97,500from $94,200. In all, an estimated 163 million workers will pay Social Security taxes in 2007.

The $33 a month average monthly increase for Social Security retirees in 2007 compares with a $39 rise for 2006.

Part of the 2007 gain will be eaten up by a $5 increase in the payments retirees must make for Medicare Part B insurance, which pays for their doctors’ visits and other outpatient care.

The increase will push the monthly premium for most Medicare recipients to $93.50,a rise of 5.6%.But that is down from the double-digit increases over the past three years when health care costs far outpaced overall inflation.