How Much Does Disability Pay?
This Social Security Disability Benefits Pay Chart Explains How Much You Can Receive in SSDI and SSI in 2024.
If you are reading this article, you or a loved one is likely one of the nearly 29% of adults in the United States who live with a disability that affects focus, decision-making, mobility, independence, hearing, or vision.
Fortunately, Social Security Disability benefits can provide a safety net when you can no longer work because of physical or mental medical impairments.
This article explains how to calculate your disability payments so you can decide whether to apply for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits or Supplemental Security Income or, if the Social Security Administration awarded your case, determine when benefits will increase and by how much.
Read on to learn more.
Working with a top-rated disability lawyer will help you navigate one of the world’s largest bureaucracies and ensure you receive the highest amount possible. So fill out this form or call (804) 251-1620 or (757) 810-5614 for help.
Guide to Social Security Disability Insurance Benefit Calculations
The SSDI program is the largest disability program administered by the SSA. It provides cash benefits to eligible disabled workers who meet the medical criteria for disability before their insured status expires.
What is the Maximum SSDI Payment Amount?
$3,822 per month is the most you can receive from Social Security Disability Insurance benefits in 2024.
What is the Average SSDI Benefit Amount?
Many disabled workers receive much less than the maximum SSDI payment available.
According to the Social Security Administration’s (SSA’s) Annual Statistical Supplement to the Social Security Bulletin, 2024, the average monthly benefit for disabled workers receiving SSDI is $1,537.13.
The data lags for average monthly disability benefits by state. However, in December 2022, the monthly SSDI benefits for states my firm practices were as follows:
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- Delaware: $1,599.97 per month
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- District of Columbia: $1,321.04 per month
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- Florida: $1,521.74 per month
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- Maryland:$1,542.21 per month
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- North Carolina: $1,483.98 per month
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- Pennsylvania: $1,493.44 per month
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- Virginia: $1,497.40 per month
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- West Virginia: $1,465.15 per month
How Does the Social Security Administration Calculate SSDI Payments?
The SSDI payments you receive depend on your past earnings.
Generally, the more you earn during your lifetime, the more SSDI you will receive if the SSA approves your claim. In contrast, lower lifetime earnings yield lower monthly SSDI payments. This structure links your benefit amount to the income lost from disability.
Here is the SSA’s three-step process to determine your monthly SSDI benefit.
Step 1: Calculate your average indexed monthly earnings (AIME).
The first step in the formula to calculate SSDI payments requires the SSA to adjust your past earnings to reflect the changes in wage levels during the years you worked. This step ensures your future disability benefits reflect the rise in living standards during your working years.
The SSA calculates AIME by taking your highest-earning years and indexing your earnings to reflect changes in average wages since those years. Your lowest earning years drop from the calculation (“dropout years”).
Step two: Compute your primary insurance amount (PIA).
Your primary insurance amount (PIA) is the monthly SSDI benefit you are entitled to receive if you start collecting at your full retirement age.
The SSA uses a formula with three percentage thresholds, known as bend points, applied to portions of your AIME to determine your final PIA.
These percentages are adjusted annually based on changes in national average wages, resulting in the PIA that sets your monthly SSDI benefits before any deductions or additions.
For example, this formula applied to workers who became disabled in 2022:
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- 90 percent of the first $1,024 of AIME, plus
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- 32 percent of the next $5,148 of AIME, plus
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- 15 percent of your AIME over $6,172
Step three: Calculate your family’s maximum disability benefit
The family maximum benefit is the payment amount you and eligible family members can receive.
If your spouse or dependents receive disability benefits separately, the SSA may reduce your monthly payment to ensure the total family benefit is at most this maximum.
The maximum SSDI benefit for disabled workers and their families ranges from 85 percent of your AIME to about 150 percent of the Primary Insurance Amount.
What Income Decreases SSDI Pay?
You may have reduced SSDI payments if you receive workers’ compensation or other public disability benefits.
Learn more about the workers’ comp offset of Social Security Disability payments here.
Guide to Supplemental Security Income Pay
Supplemental Security Income pays monthly benefits when you meet Social Security’s definition of disability and have little or no income, assets, or resources.
Many SSI recipients needed to pay more taxes to gain insured status under the SSDI program.
What is the Maximum Monthly SSI Payment?
In 2024, an individual can receive $943, and a couple can receive $1,415 in SSI payments.
What Factors Decrease SSI Pay?
Social Security reduces your monthly benefit by $1 for every $2 you earn for work or $1 from non-work sources such as unemployment.
Further, your spouse’s income may reduce your SSI pay if you live together.
How Can You Check the Amount of Your Social Security Disability Payment?
You have a few options to calculate your SSDI benefit amount.
First, you can create a “My Social Security account online.”
After you create this account, the SSA provides an estimate for your SSDI benefits and a way to check your application status.
Second, you can use the SSA’s online benefits calculator.
Do Social Security Disability Payments Increase?
Yes.
Each year, the SSA authorizes a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to keep up with inflation.
For example, in 2024, SSDI payments increased 3.2 percent.
Maximize Your Social Security Disability Pay Amount
Understanding Social Security Disability payment amounts is essential if you cannot continue or return to work because of a long-term disability. While eligibility criteria and the calculation process may seem complex, the potential financial relief SSDI and SSI offer can be significant.
Call or email my disability law firm today to start on the road to payments. We will ensure you get the payments you deserve.
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