The 2015 SGA amount for SSDI was $1,090 per month

In 2015, the Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) amount for Social Security Disability Insurance was $1,090 monthly. This meant that if you earned more than $1,090 in a month while receiving SSDI, Social Security would consider you engaged in substantial gainful activity — and could suspend or terminate your benefits that month.

The SGA amount changes each year because it is tied to the national average wage index. Social Security recalculates it annually and announces the new figure in November for the following year. The 2015 figure of $1,090 applied to working-age adults; a separate, higher SGA amount existed for people who were blind.

Understanding what the SGA amount was in a specific year matters if you are reviewing past benefit decisions, calculating back pay, or trying to understand why your benefits were suspended or stopped during that period.

Key Takeaways

  • The 2015 SGA amount was $1,090 per month for non-blind SSDI recipients.
  • If you earned more than $1,090 in a single month in 2015, Social Security could suspend your benefits for that month.
  • The SGA amount for blind individuals in 2015 was $2,880 per month, significantly higher than the standard amount.
  • Social Security announces each year's SGA amount in November, and it takes effect the following January.

How the 2015 SGA amount affected your benefits

If you were receiving SSDI in 2015 and worked, your benefits depended on whether your monthly earnings crossed the $1,090 threshold. Earning $1,089 in a month meant your benefits continued. Earning $1,091 meant Social Security would not pay you for that month — though you would not lose your benefits permanently.

This rule applied during what Social Security calls the trial work period, a nine-month window early in your work attempt when you could test your ability to work without losing benefits. After the trial work period ended, a different set of rules took over, but the SGA amount still mattered because it determined whether you were considered to be working at a substantial level.

If you were self-employed in 2015, Social Security looked at your net profit (income minus business expenses) against the $1,090 threshold. The calculation was more complex for self-employment, and the timing of when income was counted could differ from wage work.

Why the SGA amount changes every year

Social Security does not set the SGA amount arbitrarily. It is calculated as 75 percent of the national average wage index from two years prior. In 2015, the SGA amount reflected wage data from 2013. This means the amount tends to rise most years, though it can stay flat or drop slightly if average wages decline.

The reason for this formula is that Congress intended the SGA amount to represent a meaningful level of work activity — not just any earnings, but earnings that suggest you are capable of substantial work. Tying it to national wage trends keeps the threshold realistic as the economy changes.

Because the SGA amount is set by formula rather than by policy decision, you can predict future amounts by watching the Social Security Administration's annual wage index announcements each November.

The 2015 SGA amount for blind individuals

If you were blind and receiving SSDI in 2015, your SGA amount was $2,880 per month — more than two and a half times higher than the standard amount. This higher threshold reflects the assumption that blind individuals may need more time and support to reach the same level of work productivity as sighted workers.

The definition of blindness for this purpose is specific: visual acuity of 20/200 or less in your better eye, or a visual field of 20 degrees or less. Social Security maintains separate SGA amounts for blind beneficiaries in every year, and the blind SGA amount also increases annually.

How to find historical SGA amounts

If you need to know the SGA amount for a year other than 2015, Social Security publishes a complete table on its website showing the SGA amount for every year back to 1968. You can search for "SGA amounts" on ssa.gov and find the historical table in the results.

This information is useful if you are reviewing a benefit decision from years ago, calculating whether you were in trial work period status during a particular month, or understanding why your benefits were suspended in a past year. The table shows both the standard SGA amount and the blind SGA amount for each year.

What happened if you earned over the 2015 SGA amount

Earning more than $1,090 in a single month in 2015 did not automatically end your SSDI benefits. Instead, Social Security would not pay you for that specific month. Your benefits would resume the following month if your earnings dropped back below the threshold.

This is different from the Earnings Test, which applies to retirement benefits and reduces benefits based on annual earnings. SSDI uses a monthly threshold instead. One high-earning month could result in one month without a benefit check, but it would not affect the months before or after.

If you were in your trial work period in 2015, you had nine months to test work without losing benefits, regardless of how much you earned. After the trial work period ended, the $1,090 monthly threshold applied, and months over that amount would not be paid.

Frequently Asked Questions

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

No. You would not receive a benefit payment for that month, but your benefits would continue in other months. One month over the SGA amount does not terminate your case. However, if you consistently earned over $1,090 each month, Social Security would eventually determine you were no longer disabled and could stop your benefits.

Did the 2015 SGA amount explore to Supplemental Security Income as well as SSDI?

SSI has its own SGA amount, which is the same figure as SSDI ($1,090 in 2015), but SSI also has a separate income limit that is much lower. For SSI, the SGA amount matters less than the overall income cap. Check your SSI notice to see which rules applied to your case.

What if I was self-employed in 2015 and my business had a loss?

Social Security counts net profit (or loss) from self-employment. If your business lost money in 2015, that loss would not count against the SGA threshold. However, you would need to report the loss on your tax return and provide documentation to Social Security if they asked.

How much higher was the blind SGA amount in 2015 compared to the regular amount?

The blind SGA amount in 2015 was $2,880, compared to $1,090 for non-blind beneficiaries. That is a difference of $1,790 per month, or about 164 percent higher. The blind amount has always been substantially higher under SSDI rules.

Can I look up what the SGA amount will be next year?

Social Security announces the next year's SGA amount in November. You cannot predict it exactly before the announcement, but you can estimate it based on wage index trends. Once announced in November, the new amount takes effect January 1 of the following year.