Income Limits & SSI Disability Eligibility

SSI, or Supplemental Security Income, is a type of disability benefit paid to qualifying individuals whose household income falls below a certain level. It is different from Social Security disability insurance, or SSDI, which is paid out of the Social Security trust fund and is available to those who have worked (and paid FICA taxes) for a required minimum number of years.

The SSI program has strict limits on the amount of income and assets you can have and be eligible for SSI. Determining whether you fall within SSI’s income limits (as well as figuring out what your SSI payment might be) is pretty complicated. While we’ll go over the key principles here, your claims representative at the Social Security Administration (SSA) can tell you whether you will qualify under the income limits for SSI after looking at your finances.

What Is the Income Limit for SSI?

The income limit for the SSI program is based on something called the federal benefit rate (FBR). The federal benefit rate represents both the SSI income limit and the maximum federal monthly SSI payment. In 2012, the FBR was $698 per month for individuals and $1,048 for couples. (The FBR increases annually if there is a Social Security cost-of-living adjustment.)

To qualify for SSI, your countable monthly income cannot exceed the FBR. However, the SSA counts only some of your income when it determines whether your income is over the income limit. For instance, if you are earning money from work, less than half of your monthly earnings are counted toward the income limit, so you can make more than $698 per month in 2012. (To see which of your income is counted, see our article on What Counts as Income Toward the SSI Income Limit?) This makes it difficult to know for sure whether your income falls under the SSI income limit.

There is another wrinkle that alters the income limits in most states: the state supplement.

What Is a State Supplement?

Most states add money to the federal SSI payment; this is called a state supplement. This means that the allowed income level, as well as the SSI payments, are higher than the federal maximums in those states. Every state except Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia has a state supplement.

The amount of the state supplement varies between states, from $10 to $200. (The SSA manages the state supplement for some states; for those states, you can see the state supplement amounts on the SSA’s website.) In addition, the amount of the state supplement can depend on whether you are single or married and on your living arrangements. For instance, some states pay a supplement only to those living in a nursing home. For these reasons, unless you live in a state without a state supplement, it might be difficult for you to estimate whether your income falls under the SSI limit.

How the Earned Income Exclusion Works

For 2012, if an individual has only earnings income, he or she could theoretically earn up to $1,481 per month and still be eligible for an SSI benefit (depending on the type of disability and whether his or her state has a state supplement). This is because an individual earning $1,481 per month could subtract $65 of earned income, subtract another $20 for earned or unearned income, and then subtract half of the remainder, which works out to $698, the federal benefit rate. (Remember, this is the federal maximum, but if you live in a state with a state supplement, the amount may be higher.) However, there is a lower income limit that affects disabled applicants who aren't blind.

Nonblind Disabled SSI Applicants

To complicate things further, if a nonblind SSI applicant has monthly earnings of $1,010 or more in 2012, the applicant would be considered to be engaging in “substantial gainful activity,” and wouldn’t be considered disabled. So for nonblind SSI applicants, the real income limit is $1,010 per month. For more information, see our article on income limits due to substantial gainful activity.

And even when a nonblind applicant makes under $1,010 per month, his or her countable income will be deducted from the SSI payment, meaning that the SSI payment will be less.

Blind SSI Applicants

The income limit for blind SSI applicants is $1,481 per month (since blind applicants are allowed to make up to $1,690 per month before they are considered to be performing SGA). If a blind SSI applicant makes anything more than $1,481 per month, their counted income would work out to more than $698 per month, and would disqualify the individual for SSI. However, many blind applicants have impairment-related blind work expenses (BWE), which can be deducted from their countable income. Examples of BWE include the cost of visual and sensory aids or service animals.

Effects of Family Members’ Income

Marriage can have a strong effect on your financial eligibility for SSI. SSI considers your entire household's income and resources, not just yours. In addition, the FBR for a married couple is approximately one and a half times the individual FBR, not twice the amount, as it should be. Even if only one member of a couple is medically eligible for disability benefits, both spouses’ incomes are considered to be part of your countable income. (However, only part of a spouse’s income is “deemed” to be available for your use.)

Similarly, a child SSI applicant (under the age of 18) who is living with his or her parents when applying for receiving SSI, part of the parents’ income is considered in the income limit for SSI.