How Much Money Can You Make and Still Get SSI?

There are several different rules governing how much money you can earn while qualifying for SSI benefits, and how much you can earn after you become eligible for these benefits without your payments being discontinued.

Substantial Gainful Activity

If you are applying for SSI disability benefits and you are not blind, you are unable to qualify if you are engaged in substantial gainful activity (SGA). This is defined as earning above a certain amount of money each month. The SGA level changes periodically. In 2023, it is $1,470. If you make above this amount, you are unable to qualify for SSI benefits.

Benefits Reductions Due to Income

Once you become eligible for SSI, the substantial gainful activity rules are no longer the crucial rules affecting whether you can earn money and receive benefits.

Instead, the Social Security Administration will reduce your SSI benefit if you have countable income coming into your household. This can include both earned income and unearned income.

Benefits are reduced on a dollar-for-dollar basis based on the countable income you have. In 2023, the maximum monthly SSI benefit is $914. If you have $910 in countable income, you would still be eligible to receive an SSI benefit of $4.00.

The Social Security Administration considers countable income to include any cash or cash-equivalents (in-kind income) you receive during the course of the month minus any excludable income.

Countable income can include:

• Money you earn from a job
• Food, shelter or things you can use to obtain food and shelter
• Certain types of other benefits, such as unemployment benefits
• Support from family and friends

You start by adding up all your countable income to determine how much must be subtracted from your SSI benefit. Once you’ve added up income from these sources, you subtract any exclusions that apply to you.

There are a number of different exclusions that can be subtracted after your countable income is determined. These exclusions apply to both earned and unearned income.

Exclusions from unearned income

You can subtract all of these exclusions from your unearned income:

• The first $20 per month in unearned income
• Money that is being set aside to pursue a plan to become self-sufficient if you are disabled
• Need-based state or local assistance that is wholly provided by state or local governments
• Some housing subsidies offered by HUD
• SNAP benefits
• The first $60 in irregular or infrequent income

These are all subtracted from the countable income the Social Security Administration considers when determining how much money to subtract from your SSI benefits.

Exclusions from earned income

There are also some exclusions from earned income including the following:

• The first $65 in earned income
• Any remaining money from the $20 exclusion for unearned income
• Impairment-related work expenses if you are disabled and trying to work
• Income that is being set aside to pursue a plan to become self-sufficient if you’re disabled or blind
• The first $30 of irregular income that you receive in a quarter

All of these exclusions are subtracted from your countable income when determining if your SSI benefit should be reduced based on your earnings.

Now that you know how to calculate your countable income, you can determine exactly how much money you are able to make and still get SSI benefits. Here’s the process:

• Add up your income from all sources, including wages, family contributions, cash, or in-kind gifts that could be used to provide food and shelter.
• Subtract exclusions, including the first $65 or $85 of earned income plus half the remaining amount of earned income.
• This will give you your countable income
• Subtract your countable income from your monthly SSI benefit.

When you do these calculations, you’ll find that you can earn up to $1,913 per month in earned income before losing your entire SSI benefit—assuming you have no other countable income coming in. Here’s why:

• Subtract the first $85 from your $1,913 in monthly earnings to get $1,828
• Subtract ½ of that amount to get your countable income of $914
• Subtract $914 from your $914 monthly benefit, which brings your benefit down to $0.

If you earn less, you still receive at least some benefits. Say, for example, you had $1,020 in monthly earnings. You’d subtract $85 from that amount to get $935, divide that amount in half to get a countable income of $467.50 and subtract that amount from $914 to see you’d receive $446.5 per month in SSI.

As you can see, it can be complicated to answer the question, how much money can you make and still get SSI. If you want to make sure you protect your right to disability benefits, it’s a good idea to talk with a disability benefits lawyer before you begin working. This is especially important if you are also receiving other sources of disability income such as SSDI benefits or workers’ compensation.

Your attorney will explain the rules and help you to ensure you don’t make a mistake that inadvertently costs you the income you and your loved ones need to be financially secure.