The 2018 SSDI payment amount depended on your work history, not your disability

In 2018, the average SSDI payment was $1,182 per month. But your individual payment could have been anywhere from about $40 to $3,011 per month, depending entirely on how much you earned during your working years before you became disabled. Social Security calculates your benefit by looking at your highest 35 years of earnings, adjusts them for inflation, and converts that into a monthly amount. The more you earned, the more you received.

This is the core rule that confuses many people: SSDI is not a needs-based program. You do not receive more money because you are poor or less money because you have savings. You receive what your own work record earned you, regardless of your current situation. A person who worked full-time at high wages for 30 years might receive $2,500 per month in 2018, while someone who worked part-time or had gaps in employment might receive $600.

Key Takeaways

  • Your 2018 SSDI payment was based on your earnings history, not your disability or financial need, and ranged from roughly $40 to $3,011 per month depending on what you had earned.
  • Social Security used your highest 35 years of earnings, adjusted for inflation, to calculate your Primary Insurance Amount — the base number that determined your monthly check.
  • If you started receiving SSDI before age 66 in 2018, your payment was reduced by a percentage that varied based on how many months early you claimed.
  • Family members — a spouse, ex-spouse, or children — could receive payments based on your work record, which reduced your own payment if you were under full retirement age.

How Social Security calculated your 2018 benefit amount

Social Security took your 35 highest-earning years and indexed them — meaning they adjusted older earnings upward to account for wage growth over time. This prevented someone who worked in 1985 from being penalized just because wages were lower then. After indexing, Social Security averaged your 35 highest years and divided by 420 months to get a monthly average.

That monthly average then went through a formula called the bend points. In 2018, the bend points were $885 and $5,336. Social Security took 90 percent of your average monthly earnings up to $885, then 32 percent of earnings between $885 and $5,336, then 15 percent of anything above $5,336. This formula meant that lower earners received a higher percentage of their earnings as a benefit, while higher earners received a lower percentage. Someone who averaged $1,000 per month in indexed earnings might receive $900 in benefits, while someone who averaged $6,000 per month might receive $2,100 — a lower percentage, but a higher dollar amount.

The result of this formula was your Primary Insurance Amount, or PIA. This was the number Social Security used as the foundation for your 2018 payment.

Reductions if you claimed SSDI before your full retirement age

If you were approved for SSDI and began receiving payments before your full retirement age — which in 2018 ranged from 66 to 66 and 10 months depending on your birth year — your payment was reduced. The reduction was permanent, meaning it stayed in place for the rest of your life, even after you reached full retirement age.

The reduction was steepest in the first 36 months before full retirement age. In 2018, you lost 25/36 of one percent per month, which meant a reduction of about 25 percent if you claimed at age 62 (the earliest age you could claim SSDI). If you claimed between 36 and 60 months before full retirement age, the reduction was smaller: 5/12 of one percent per month. This structure meant that claiming at 62 instead of 66 cost you roughly 25 to 30 percent of your lifetime benefits, depending on your exact birth date and life expectancy.

Family payments on your SSDI record in 2018

If you were receiving SSDI in 2018, your spouse, ex-spouse, or unmarried children under 19 (or up to 22 if in high school full-time) could also receive payments based on your work record. Each family member could receive up to 50 percent of your Primary Insurance Amount, but there was a family maximum — usually 150 to 180 percent of your own PIA. This meant that if your PIA was $1,500, your family members could collectively receive $2,250 to $2,700 per month, and your own payment might be reduced to make room for them.

This family maximum was one of the most misunderstood rules. Your payment did not increase because you had a family. Instead, the total paid to you and all your family members was capped. If you were receiving $1,500 and your spouse became may have access to to $750, Social Security would not pay you $1,500 plus $750. Instead, they would divide the family maximum between you, paying you less and your spouse less, so the total stayed within the cap.

Cost-of-living adjustments and how 2018 compared to other years

In 2018, Social Security applied a 2 percent cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, to all SSDI payments. This meant that if you received $1,000 per month in 2017, you received $1,020 in 2018. The COLA was the same for everyone — it did not depend on your individual circumstances. In some years, there was no COLA at all (2009, 2010, and 2011 had zero increases). In other years, the COLA was higher or lower depending on inflation.

The 2018 COLA of 2 percent was modest compared to some years but higher than the zero increases of the early 2010s. If you had been receiving SSDI since 2010, your 2018 payment would have been roughly 16 percent higher than your 2010 payment, accounting for all the COLAs in between.

The earnings test and how work affected your 2018 payment

If you were under full retirement age in 2018 and you worked, Social Security reduced your SSDI payment by $1 for every $2 you earned above the annual earnings limit. In 2018, that limit was $17,040. If you earned $19,040, you were $2,000 over the limit, so Social Security would reduce your payment by $1,000 that year.

This earnings test applied only if you were under full retirement age. Once you reached full retirement age, you could earn any amount without a reduction. The test also had a different rule for the year you reached full retirement age: you lost $1 for every $3 earned above a higher limit ($45,360 in 2018), but only for earnings before the month you reached full retirement age.

The earnings test was separate from the work incentives that allowed SSDI recipients to test their ability to work without losing benefits when ready. Those incentives — the Trial Work Period, the Extended may be able to access Period, and Impairment Related Work Expenses — had their own rules and thresholds that changed year to year.

Why your 2018 payment might have been different from the average

The $1,182 average in 2018 was just that — an average. Half of all SSDI recipients received more, and half received less. Your payment depended on your specific earnings record, your age when you claimed, whether you had family members on your record, and whether you were working. Someone who had worked at minimum wage for 20 years and then became disabled would receive far less than someone who had worked full-time at a professional salary for 35 years. Someone who claimed at 62 would receive less than someone who waited until 66, even if they had identical earnings histories.

If you wanted to know what your specific 2018 payment would have been, you would have needed to create a my Social Security account on ssa.gov and view your benefit estimate. That estimate was based on your actual earnings record and showed what you could expect to receive at different claiming ages. Without access to your own record, no general article could tell you your exact amount.

Frequently Asked Questions

Was the 2018 SSDI payment amount the same for everyone?

No. The average was $1,182, but individual payments ranged from about $40 to $3,011 per month depending on your earnings history. Two people with the same disability could receive very different amounts based on how much they had earned during their working years.

Could you receive SSDI and still work in 2018?

Yes, but if you were under full retirement age and earned more than $17,040 per year, Social Security reduced your payment by $1 for every $2 you earned above that limit. Work incentives like the Trial Work Period allowed you to test your ability to work without losing benefits when ready.

Did your family members' payments reduce your own payment in 2018?

Not directly, but they reduced the total paid to your household. Social Security had a family maximum, usually 150 to 180 percent of your Primary Insurance Amount. If your spouse or children became may have access to to payments, the total paid to all of you was capped at that maximum, so individual payments were adjusted downward.

What happened to your payment if you claimed SSDI at 62 instead of waiting until 66?

Your payment was permanently reduced by roughly 25 to 30 percent. This reduction stayed in place for the rest of your life, even after you reached full retirement age. The exact percentage depended on your birth year and the specific number of months you claimed early.

Did the 2018 COLA increase explore to everyone receiving SSDI?

Yes. The 2 percent cost-of-living adjustment in 2018 applied to all SSDI recipients. If you received a payment in 2017, your 2018 payment was 2 percent higher, unless you were subject to the earnings test or family maximum adjustments.