Social Security Disability: How SSDI Claims Are Decided

Many Americans have at least a passing familiarity with the Social Security Administration and the agency’s disability benefit programs, but few people are aware of what it actually means to be disabled according to Social Security’s definition. The agency uses a five-step “sequential evaluation process” to evaluate disability claims, meaning that the disability examiner reviewing your application must address each issue in a specific order. 

Step #1: Evaluating Substantial Gainful Activity

The first step in the sequential evaluation process is to determine whether or not you’re engaged in “substantial gainful activity,” or SGA. SGA is the level of monthly income that Social Security considers to be full-time work. If you earn at or above the SGA level, you can’t receive disability benefits—even if you earned the entire amount (which in 2026 is $1,690 per month) in one week and were hospitalized for the rest of the month. 

Step #2: Determining Severe Impairments

The second step for the claims examiner is to decide whether you have a severe “medically determinable impairment.” Severe impairments must last for at least 12 months and have more than a minimal impact on your daily activities. For example, a broken leg will probably heal within a few months (and would be an unlikely candidate for a severe impairment), while degenerative joint disease is more likely to significantly limit your abilities for a year or longer and qualify as a severe impairment. 

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Step #3: Meeting a Listing

In step three of the sequential evaluation process, the examiner will determine whether your severe impairment rises to the level of a “listed impairment.” Listed impairments are certain conditions that Social Security considers especially debilitating. If you have a disorder that’s on the “listing of impairments,” and you can provide documentation of the medical criteria specific to that listing, the claims examiner will end the sequential evaluation process and award you disability benefits. Getting benefits this way is often called “meeting a listing.”

Step #4: Performing Your Past Work

The majority of disability applicants aren’t granted benefits at step three. Their claims must then proceed to evaluation at step four, where the examiner will ask whether your residual functional capacity (RFC) keeps you from performing any of your past jobs. Your RFC is a set of restrictions—physical, mental, or both, depending on your impairments—on the kinds of tasks you can perform in a work environment. The examiner will compare the limitations in your current RFC with the demands of the jobs you’ve held in the past five years. If you can return to the type of work you’ve done before, you can’t receive disability benefits, and your claim will be denied. But if you can no longer do your past work, the claims examiner will move on to the fifth and final step of the sequential evaluation process. 

Step #5: Assessing the Ability to Perform Other Work

Step five is the determinative step for most claimants. Here, the examiner determines whether any other full-time jobs exist in the country that you can still perform, despite the restrictions in your RFC. For most disability applicants under the age of 50, this means needing to show that you can’t perform even the simplest sit-down work, such as an uncomplicated desk job or basic parts assembly. (In Social Security lingo, this is often referred to as having a “less than sedentary” RFC.) 

Applicants 50 years of age or older may be granted benefits even if they can physically perform less demanding jobs than the ones they’re used to. Using a special set of rules called the “medical-vocational grid rules,” the claims examiner will consider additional vocational factors—such as your education and skill set—to determine whether you could be expected to easily switch to a different line of work. If not, the examiner can apply the relevant “grid rule” to find you disabled and award you benefits.