The 2015 SSDI Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) Threshold Explained

If you're researching SSDI rules from 2015 — whether you're reviewing a past decision, understanding a prior work period, or just trying to make sense of how the program has changed — the SGA amount is one of the most concrete numbers in the entire system. Here's what it was, what it meant, and why it mattered.

What Is SGA and Why Does It Define SSDI Eligibility?

Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) is the earnings threshold the Social Security Administration uses to determine whether someone is working "too much" to qualify for SSDI benefits. It's a monthly dollar figure, and it applies at two critical points:

• When you apply — If you're earning above SGA when you file, SSA will generally deny your claim at the very first step, before even reviewing your medical records.
• After approval — If you return to work and earn above SGA during your benefit period (outside of protected work trial periods), it can trigger a review and potential loss of benefits.

SGA is not a measure of how hard you work or how many hours you put in. It's strictly about gross monthly earnings from work activity.

The 2015 SGA Amount for SSDI

📋 For 2015, the SSA set the SGA thresholds as follows:

The higher limit for blind individuals is set separately by statute and has historically been more generous than the standard threshold.

These figures were a modest increase from 2014, when the non-blind SGA limit was $1,070 and the blind SGA limit was $1,800. SSA adjusts the non-blind SGA threshold most years in line with national average wage index changes, though in some years — particularly when wages stagnate — the amount holds flat.

How SGA Thresholds Are Calculated and Adjusted

SGA amounts don't change arbitrarily. The non-blind SGA figure is tied to the national average wage index (AWI), which SSA calculates based on broad wage data across the U.S. economy. When average wages rise, SGA typically rises the following year.

The blind SGA figure is governed by a different section of the Social Security Act and generally increases at a faster rate, reflecting longstanding legislative intent to apply a more lenient standard to individuals with blindness.

This annual adjustment process means that someone whose earnings were just below the SGA limit in 2015 might have been over the limit in a different year — or might fall under a different threshold today. When evaluating any past period of work, the SGA amount that applied in that specific year is what matters.

Why 2015 SGA Amounts Still Come Up Today

There are several practical reasons someone might need to know the exact 2015 SGA figure:

Reviewing a prior denial. If your application was denied in 2015 on the basis that your earnings exceeded SGA, understanding the exact threshold helps you evaluate whether that determination was accurate.

Establishing an onset date. SSA determines your alleged onset date (AOD) — when your disability began — partly by looking at when you stopped performing SGA. If you stopped working at a certain point in 2015, the SGA amount for that year becomes part of the record.

Trial work period and extended period of eligibility reviews. If you were already receiving SSDI in 2015 and working, SSA would have evaluated your monthly earnings against that year's SGA limit when determining whether you had completed a Trial Work Period (TWP) month or had entered the Extended Period of Eligibility (EPE). During the EPE, earning above SGA in any month can stop your benefits for that month.

Overpayment disputes. If SSA later determined you received benefits during a month in 2015 when you were earning above SGA, the 2015 threshold becomes the reference point for calculating what, if anything, was overpaid.

SGA in Context: What It Doesn't Measure 🔍

SGA only applies to earned income from work. It does not count:

• Passive investment income
• Rental income
• Social Security benefits themselves
• Income received by a spouse or household member

It also doesn't directly determine how severe your medical condition is. SSA's Sequential Evaluation Process has five steps, and SGA is only Step 1. A person can earn below SGA and still be denied at later steps if SSA determines their impairment doesn't meet the required severity standards or that they can perform other work given their Residual Functional Capacity (RFC).

Conversely, earning below SGA doesn't automatically mean someone will be approved. It simply means SSA will proceed to evaluate the medical and vocational evidence.

How Earnings Near the Threshold Get Evaluated

SSA doesn't always take a raw paycheck figure at face value. In some cases, impairment-related work expenses (IRWEs) — costs you pay out of pocket to work because of your disability — can be deducted from gross earnings before comparing them to the SGA limit. Subsidized employment situations, where an employer is essentially accommodating a worker beyond what the job performance would normally justify, can also factor into how SSA calculates countable earnings.

These adjustments mean that two workers with the same gross income in 2015 could have been treated very differently under the SGA analysis, depending on their specific circumstances and the documentation they provided.

The Piece That Only You Can Fill In

The 2015 SGA thresholds — $1,090 for non-blind applicants, $1,820 for blind applicants — are fixed, public facts. But whether those numbers affected your specific claim, your benefit status, or a determination SSA made about your work activity depends entirely on your individual earnings record, the timing of your work, how SSA categorized your employment, and what other factors were in play. Those details live in your file — not in a general rule.