How Much Does SSDI Pay?

Social Security Disability Insurance pays monthly compensation to eligible workers who have severe disabilities that prevent them from working. The amount you receive is based on your lifetime earnings. The maximum monthly disability payment you can receive in 2024 is $3,822. However, few workers receive the maximum. The average monthly disability payment is $1,537.

Key Takeaways

SSDI benefits are calculated based on your highest 35 years of earnings, adjusted for inflation, with a maximum monthly payment of $3,822 in 2024, although the average is around $1,537.
While receiving SSDI, you can attempt to work during a nine-month trial period without losing benefits, and if your earnings exceed the substantial gainful activity limit of $1,550 ($2,590 if blind), your benefits might be adjusted or ceased.
Receiving workers’ compensation or public disability benefits can reduce your SSDI benefits so that your total income does not exceed 80% of your pre-disability earnings. However, private sources like personal insurance or pensions do not affect SSDI payments.

How Are SSDI Payments Calculated?

The Social Security Administration calculates SSDI benefits using a formula based on your past earnings. For an estimate on how much you may be able to receive in monthly SSDI benefits, check out our SSDI calculator.

How Social Security Decides Which Earnings To Use

If your work history is longer than 35 years, the Social Security Administration will only use the 35 years with the highest earnings in your benefit calculations. If your earnings history is shorter than 35 years, the SSA will use your lifetime earnings.

If you continued working after your disability started and you earned less because of your disability, you can request a disability freeze. If approved, the SSA will exclude the years with lower earnings from the calculation. This can help you receive a higher benefit.

Social Security Adjusts Your Past Earnings for Inflation

Before plugging your earnings into the benefits calculator, the Social Security Administration calculates the average indexed monthly earnings, or AIME. This calculation adjusts your past earnings for inflation so that your monthly benefit will reflect the cost of living for the current year.

Your SSDI Benefit Will Equal Your Full Retirement Benefit

Your full Social Security retirement benefits normally become available when you reach your full retirement age, which is 66 or 67, depending on the year you were born. You have the option of starting your benefits when you are 62, but they will be reduced. You can also receive an increased benefit if you delay your retirement until you reach 70. The amount you would receive at your full retirement age is known as the primary insurance amount, or PIA. Your monthly SSDI benefit is based on this amount.

The Social Security Administration calculates your PIA using the following equation:

90% of the first $1,174 of your AIME
+ 32% of your AIME between $1,174 and $7,078
+ 15% of your AIME over $7,078
___________________________________________
= Your PIA

The SSA will round the PIA down to the nearest dollar. This total is your monthly SSDI payment.

What Is the Limit on How Much You Can Make and Still Receive SSDI?

Social Security awards disability benefits when a medical condition makes it impossible to earn substantial income. This doesn’t mean you cannot work at all. However, you must report all earnings to the Social Security Administration. You are ineligible for SSDI if you earn above the SSA’s threshold for substantial gainful activity, or SGA. The 2024 SSDI earnings limit is $1,550, or $2,590 if you are blind. These limits change annually.

Trial Work Periods

If you want to attempt a return to work while receiving SSDI, Social Security offers a nine-month trial work period, during which you will not lose your benefits. The SSA places no limits on your income during your trial work period. The nine months do not have to be consecutive, and you can take up to five years to complete your work trial. If you earn more than $1,110 in any month during the trial work period, it will count toward the nine months.

If you successfully complete your nine-month work trial, you will enter an extended period of eligibility, or EPE, for three years. You will not receive benefits for any month you earn more than the substantial gainful activity limit. However, you will still receive your benefits when you earn less. If your earnings are consistently above the limit, your benefits will end at the end of the three years. You can request an expedited reinstatement during the following five years if you cannot keep working. After five years, you would need to submit a new application.

What is the Highest SSDI Payment You Can Receive Per Month?

The maximum monthly SSDI payment in 2024 is $3,822. However, it is rare for anyone to receive this amount. Only the highest income earners with extensive work histories receive the maximum benefit.

What is the Average SSDI Payment Per Month?

The average monthly SSDI benefit in 2024 is $1,537 monthly.

Can Other Benefits Lower Your SSDI Benefits?

Receiving money from workers’ compensation or public disability benefit programs may lower your SSDI benefits. Public disability benefits programs include local, state, and federal disability programs, temporary state disability benefits, and civil service disability benefits. If you receive money from any of these programs and SSDI, your combined benefits cannot exceed 80 percent of your average current earnings before your disability’s onset. If combined benefits exceed that amount, the SSA will reduce your SSDI to bring the total down to 80 percent.

Your SSDI will be increased to your full award amount after you reach full retirement age or the other benefit ends, whichever happens first.

The 80 percent rule only applies to workers’ compensation and public benefit programs. It does not apply to the following programs:

Disability payments from private sources, such as an employer
Private pensions
Insurance benefits
Supplemental Security Income, or SSI
VA benefits
State and local government benefit if Social Security taxes were deducted from your earnings

If you receive benefits from any of these programs, your SSDI benefit will stay the same.

How Much Do SSDI Payments Increase Per Year?

The Social Security Administration adjusts SSDI benefits annually according to the Consumer Price Index. This is known as the cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA. The COLA varies from year to year. In 2024, SSDI benefits increased by 3.2 percent. If the consumer price index does not increase, your benefits will not change that year. No adjustment occurred in 2010, 2011, and 2016. Your benefits will never decrease even if the consumer price index declines.

Family Members and SSDI Benefits

Once you start receiving SSDI benefits, each eligible family member could also receive benefits of up to 50 percent of your level. The following family members may be eligible:

Spouse 62 or older who is not eligible for higher Social Security benefits than yours
Unmarried divorced spouse 62 or older to whom you were married for at least 10 years and who is not eligible for a higher benefit than yours
Unmarried children under 18 or up to 19 if still in high school
Adult children with a disability that began before they turned 22

The total family benefits may not exceed the maximum family earnings established by Social Security. The family maximum is 85 percent of your AIME or 150 percent of your PIA, whichever is greater. In some cases, the family maximum may be as high as 180 percent of your benefits.

SSDI Back Pay

SSDI back pay is a lump sum payment or a series of payments of the benefits you were eligible for while the SSA was processing your SSDI application. If you were disabled for an extended time before you applied for SSDI, you may also be able to receive retroactive benefits for up to 12 of those months. The table below shows the differences between retroactive benefits and back pay:

Back Pay	Retroactive Benefits
Payments for the time from when you applied for SSDI to your approval date	Payments for the months you were disabled before you applied for SSDI
No limit	Limited to 12 months

According to the Social Security Administration, it takes an average of six to eight months to receive an initial decision about your SSDI application, but every claim is different. If you receive an initial denial and want to appeal your SSDI claim, receiving approval could take over a year. The longer you wait for approval, the higher your back pay.

There will be a five-month waiting period from the date Social Security believes your disability began and the date your benefits begin. This waiting period will likely be over by the time your benefits are approved. However, these months are excluded from your back pay. There is no exception for those who have amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. They have no waiting period.

Contact Disability Advice For Assistance With Getting SSDI Benefits

Qualified SSDI applicants often receive denials. The Social Security Administration has stringent application and proof requirements. Even trivial errors can result in a denial. Social Security uses human reviewers to evaluate every application. You can do everything right and still receive an undeserved denial because the Social Security Administration has made a mistake.

Disability Advice can help you get your benefits approved on the first attempt. While prevailing in an appeal can be even harder, we can also help you with that. Contact us today for a free case review.

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