Disability (SSDI) Benefits: Based on your work history and contributions into the system
Disability benefits are calculated based on the amount of money you earned when you were able to work and the amount that you contributed into the Social Security system. While the formula used to make this calculation can be a little difficult to understand, it is based on something called your “primary insurance amount,” also referred to as your “PIA”. Please visit Social Security’s page explaining PIA for additional information. If you are looking for an estimate of what your disability payment will be, you can fill out SSA form 7004 and mail it to SSA in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
As disability payments vary on a case-by-case basis, I have seen Disability checks as high as $1,800 monthly and low as $100 per month. On average, a disability check is about $1,100 per month. Your check amount may vary.
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Benefit: Set annually by statute
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits, unlike disability payments, are developed by law and updated annually. Keep in mind, if you have no offsets, your SSI check in 2009 will be around $674 each month for an individual. If you have a spouse, the amount can be around $1,011. Click the link to view a table showing monthly SSI benefits for prior years.
Social Security benefit payments are not huge amounts, especially when comparing to what you can actually earn if you are able to work. So, if you fall just short of credits for SSDI (Disability), it may make good sense for you to tough it out and work until you earn a sufficient amount of credits to make you eligible for Title II Disability.
In most cases, SSDI payments are considerably higher than SSI and you don’t have to be concerned about income offsets and resource offsets.