The 2015 SSDI income limit was $1,090 per month

In 2015, if you received Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), you could earn up to $1,090 per month and still receive your full benefit. This amount is called Substantial Gainful Activity, or SGA. If you earned more than $1,090 in a month, Social Security would consider you able to work and could stop your benefits.

The $1,090 figure was set by federal law and applied the same way across all 50 states. It changed every year based on a formula tied to national wage growth, which is why the limit in 2015 was different from 2014 or 2016.

This limit applied whether you worked for an employer, ran your own business, or did both. Social Security counted your gross earnings—the money before taxes—not what you took home.

Key Takeaways

  • The 2015 SGA limit for SSDI was $1,090 per month, and earning more than that could result in loss of benefits.
  • Social Security counted gross earnings, not net pay, so taxes and deductions did not reduce the amount they counted.
  • The limit applied to all types of work—wages, self-employment, or both combined.
  • The SGA amount changed every January based on national average wage increases, so the 2015 limit was different from other years.

How Social Security counted your earnings in 2015

Social Security looked at your earnings for each month separately. If you earned $1,090 or less in January, you kept your full SSDI payment for January. If you earned $1,091 in February, Social Security would flag that month as a work month, even if you earned nothing in March.

The way Social Security counted earnings depended on how you were paid. If you received a regular paycheck, they counted the gross amount on your pay stub. If you were self-employed, they counted your net profit after business expenses, not your total revenue.

Certain types of income did not count toward the limit. Unearned income—such as interest, dividends, rental income, or other benefits—was separate and did not affect your SSDI. Only money you earned from work counted.

Why the limit changed every year

The SGA limit was not fixed. Congress tied it to the national average wage index, which measures how much American workers earned on average. Every January, Social Security announced the new SGA limit for that year based on wage growth from the previous year.

In 2014, the SGA limit had been $1,070. By 2015, it rose to $1,090 because average wages had grown. In 2016, it would rise again to $1,130. This annual adjustment meant that the threshold moved slightly higher most years, though it could theoretically stay the same or fall if wages declined.

The reason for this tie to wages was practical: if the limit never changed, it would become easier to exceed it over time as inflation and wage growth continued. Linking it to average wages kept the threshold roughly aligned with what Social Security considered "substantial" work.

What happened if you earned more than $1,090 in 2015

Exceeding the SGA limit in a single month did not automatically stop your benefits when ready. Instead, Social Security tracked your earnings over time using a system called the trial work period and the extended may be able to access period.

During your trial work period—nine months within a rolling 60-month window—you could earn any amount and still receive your full SSDI payment. This gave you a chance to test your ability to work without losing benefits right away. Once you used up your nine trial work months, the rules changed.

After the trial work period ended, if you earned more than $1,090 in any month, Social Security would withhold your entire benefit for that month. You would not receive a payment, but your case would remain open. If your earnings dropped back below $1,090 the following month, your payment would resume.

The difference between the 2015 limit and other years

The 2015 SGA limit of $1,090 was specific to that year. To understand how it compared:

  • 2014: $1,070 per month
  • 2015: $1,090 per month
  • 2016: $1,130 per month

If you were receiving SSDI in 2015 and wanted to know the limit for a different year, you would need to check Social Security's announcement for that specific year. The limit has continued to rise in most years since 2015 as wages have grown.

The reason to know the historical limit is usually to understand what happened to your case in the past. If you were working in 2015 and your benefits stopped, the $1,090 figure explains why Social Security made that decision at that time.

How to find the SGA limit for other years

Social Security publishes the SGA limit every year on its official website. If you need to know the limit for 2015 or any other year, you can search for "SGA limit" plus the year on Social Security's site or contact your local Social Security office.

Your Social Security statement or benefit letter from 2015 may also have listed the current SGA limit at that time. If you kept old correspondence from Social Security, that is another way to confirm what the limit was when your case was active.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did the $1,090 limit explore to everyone on SSDI in 2015?

Yes, the $1,090 SGA limit applied to all SSDI recipients in 2015, regardless of age, location, or type of disability. It was a single national threshold set by federal law.

If I earned $1,100 in one month in 2015, did I lose all my benefits?

Not necessarily. If you were still in your trial work period, you would keep your full benefit even though you exceeded $1,090. If you were past the trial work period, you would lose that month's payment, but your case would stay open and benefits would resume the next month if earnings dropped below $1,090.

Did Social Security count money I received as a gift or tax refund toward the $1,090 limit?

No. Social Security only counted earned income—money from work. Gifts, tax refunds, inheritances, and other unearned income did not count toward the SGA limit.

Why was the 2015 limit higher than 2014?

The SGA limit rose from $1,070 to $1,090 because average wages in the United States grew between 2013 and 2014. Social Security adjusts the limit every January based on national wage growth to keep the threshold meaningful over time.

If I was self-employed in 2015, how did Social Security count my earnings?

Social Security counted your net profit after business expenses, not your total revenue. If you earned $2,000 in gross revenue but had $1,200 in business expenses, Social Security would count $800 toward the $1,090 limit.