The 2018 SSDI payment amounts

In 2018, the average Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) payment was $1,182 per month. The maximum payment that year was $2,788 per month for someone who had earned a very high income before becoming unable to work. Most people received somewhere between these two numbers, depending on how much they had earned during their working years.

Your actual 2018 payment amount was based on your Primary Insurance Amount (PIA), which Social Security calculated from your earnings record. The higher your income had been before you stopped working, the higher your SSDI payment would be. This is different from Supplemental Security Income (SSI), which is a needs-based program with a flat payment amount.

If you were receiving SSDI in 2018, you would have seen a 2 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) compared to 2017. This annual adjustment happens most years to account for inflation, though some years have no increase at all.

Key Takeaways

  • The 2018 average SSDI payment was $1,182 per month, with a maximum of $2,788 for high earners.
  • Your payment amount depended on your earnings history before you became unable to work, not on your current financial need.
  • SSDI payments included a 2 percent cost-of-living increase in 2018 compared to the previous year.
  • Family members could receive payments based on your SSDI record, which would reduce your own monthly amount if you had dependents.

How Social Security calculated your 2018 payment

Social Security looked at your 35 highest-earning years to figure out what you should receive. They took your average monthly earnings from those years, applied a formula, and arrived at your PIA. This is the number that determined your 2018 payment.

The formula itself changed slightly each year based on national wage trends. In 2018, the bend points (the income thresholds used in the formula) were $1,088 and $6,542. If you had earned more than these amounts in your working years, the formula gave you a smaller percentage of those higher earnings, which is why very high earners did not receive payments that were proportionally as large as lower earners.

Family payments on your 2018 SSDI record

If you were receiving SSDI in 2018, your spouse, ex-spouse, and children could also receive payments based on your work record. Each family member would get a percentage of your PIA, but the total amount paid to your whole family could not exceed 150 to 180 percent of your own payment (the exact percentage varied by state).

This meant that if you had multiple family members receiving benefits on your record, each person's individual payment would be reduced. For example, if your PIA was $1,200 and your family's maximum was 180 percent of that ($2,160), and you had a spouse and two children also receiving benefits, the $2,160 would be divided among all four of you.

Differences between 2018 SSDI and SSI payments

In 2018, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) had a different payment structure than SSDI. The federal SSI payment was $750 per month for an individual and $1,125 for a couple. Many states added their own supplement on top of the federal amount, so your total SSI payment depended on where you lived.

The key difference was that SSI was based on financial need, not work history. You could receive SSI if you had little or no income and few assets, regardless of whether you had ever worked. SSDI, by contrast, required you to have worked and paid Social Security taxes for a certain period before you became unable to work.

Some people received both SSDI and SSI in 2018 if their SSDI payment was very small. Social Security would pay your SSDI first, then SSI would make up the difference to bring you to the SSI federal rate.

How 2018 payments compared to other years

The 2018 average of $1,182 was slightly higher than 2017 because of the 2 percent COLA. In 2016 and 2017, there had been no cost-of-living increase, so 2018 was the first raise many people had seen in three years. In 2019, the COLA was 1.6 percent, which was lower than 2018.

Payment amounts have generally trended upward over time as wages have increased, but the COLA varies year to year depending on inflation. Some years have had no increase at all, and a few years have even had a slight decrease, though that is rare.

What happened to 2018 payments if you also worked

If you were receiving SSDI in 2018 and you earned income from work, Social Security would reduce your payment once your earnings exceeded the annual limit. In 2018, that limit was $17,040 per year (or $2,870 per month). For every $2 you earned above that amount, Social Security would withhold $1 from your SSDI payment.

This rule applied during your trial work period and extended work period. After you reached your trial work period end date, you entered a nine-month extended work period where the earnings limit still applied. Once that ended, you could work without limits, though your SSDI could end if you earned above the substantial gainful activity level.

Frequently Asked Questions

Was the 2018 SSDI payment the same for everyone?

No. Your 2018 payment depended on your earnings history. The average was $1,182, but individual payments ranged from a minimum (which varied by state) to a maximum of $2,788. Someone who had earned very little during their working years would receive a smaller payment than someone who had earned a high income.

Did SSDI payments in 2018 include Medicare?

No. The $1,182 average and other payment amounts were cash only. After you received SSDI for 24 months, you became covered by Medicare automatically. Medicare is health insurance, not a cash payment, so it was separate from your monthly benefit amount.

Could you receive both SSDI and SSI in 2018?

Yes, if your SSDI payment was very low. Social Security would pay your SSDI first, then SSI would supplement it to bring your total to the federal SSI rate of $750 per month (or higher if your state added a supplement). This combination was called "concurrent benefits."

What if you had a spouse receiving benefits on your 2018 SSDI record?

Your spouse could receive up to 50 percent of your PIA, but only if they were at least 62 years old or caring for a child under 16. If your family had multiple members receiving benefits, the total paid to everyone could not exceed 150 to 180 percent of your own payment, so each person's share would be smaller.