How Much Will My SSDI Monthly Check Be?

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is one way of receiving monthly payment and benefits for those who are disabled. The severity of a disability is not a determining factor in the payments or benefit amounts. Ultimately, the SSA (Social Security Administration) determines eligibility for payments. To be eligible to apply, the SSDI requires you to have worked and paid taxes for a determined amount of time.

Calculating Monthly Payments

If you are found disabled by SSA, your SSDI benefits are based on the amount of income on which you have paid social security taxes.  Your average earnings are called your Average Indexed Monthly Earnings, or AIME.  Using your AIME, the SSA will calculate your Primary Insurance Amount (PIA), which is your monthly SSDI benefit amount.  Since everyone’s AIME amounts are different, so are the PIA’s.

In 2022, the average monthly benefit amount paid to an SSDI recipient is around $1,358 but can go as high as around $3,345 a month for those whose income was fairly high in recent years.

Income that Might Impact a Payment

Those receiving government benefits may be entitled to less in SSDI benefits. The following could affect or reduce your payments:

• Public disability benefits, such as Worker’s Compensation
• State or federal retirement benefits, including those received from civil service employment
• The pension that Social Security does not cover

The combined amount of the above factors and your SSDI monthly benefit amount cannot exceed 80% of a person’s monthly average earnings before they become disabled. Anything exceeding the 80% will be deducted from your SSDI monthly benefit amount.

Can I Get the Back Pay Award?

If SSA has found a claimant medically disabled, one can be eligible to receive a back pay award depending on two factors:

• The number of months and payments one receives depending on the application date
• The disability onset date

If you believe you qualify for SSI or SSDI and have any further questions about the process or feel your claim has been wrongfully denied, please contact us to schedule a free initial consultation today. You can reach us by phone or through our online contact form.