How Much Will Your SSDI Benefit Be?

The amount of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits you’ll receive each month is based on your average lifetime earnings before your disability began. Unlike Veterans Compensation, Workers Comp, or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments, SSDI isn’t based on how severe your disability is or how much income you have—everything depends on those lifetime earnings. Most SSDI recipients receive between $700 and $1,400 per month.

Estimating Your Social Security Disability Amount

In 2022, the average SSDI payment for an individual is $1,358, but almost two-thirds of SSDI recipients receive less than that. Only 10% of SSDI recipients receive $2,000 per month or more. Because benefit amounts depend on lifetime earnings, there is a large range in how much Social Security pays. For instance, let’s look at age 55, the most common age disabilities start. For 55-year-olds who have worked their entire lives, Social Security typically pays $1,000 to $2,700, depending on their past income. Someone who’s earning $50,000 at age 55 might receive $1,500 to $1,900 per month, depending on their past work, while someone earning $100,000 at age 55 might receive $2,400 to $2,700 a month.

Calculating Your Monthly SSDI Payment
The Social Security Administration (SSA) uses a complex weighted formula to calculate benefits for each person, up to 2022’s maximum benefit of $3,345. The calculation depends on: -your average income over 35 years -whether you paid self-employment taxes if you owned your own business or freelanced -whether you worked in any jobs that didn’t pay into the Social Security system (such as state or local government jobs), and -whether you took any years off work for child-rearing or long-term illness. Also, if you’re receiving disability payments from other sources, like workers’ comp or a state short-term disability program, your SSDI payment may be reduced. On the other hand, if you have a spouse, children, or both, your family’s payment will be increased. In 2022, the average family payment for a disabled worker with a spouse and child is $2,383.
Doing the math yourself is difficult, but you can find your SSDI benefit amount in your Social Security Statement. You can get your statement online by signing up for an account at www.ssa.gov/myaccount.

How Much Back Pay Will You Get?
The vast majority of applicants who are approved for SSDI will receive a lump sum of past due monthly payments, which many people call “back pay.” You can get back pay going back to when date you filed their disability application, and often even earlier. How much you’ll receive in Social Security disability back pay depends on your SSDI monthly amount. And how many months of back payments you get is determined by when you apply for disability and when your disability began.

By: Premier Disability Services, LLC