Supplemental Security Income — The Federal Rates

Individual

$994/mo$11,928 a year

Couple

$1,491/mo

Resource limit

$2,000$3,000 for a couple

Student exclusion

$2,410/mo

SSI is a needs-based programme, not an insurance one. It is not funded by payroll tax and does not depend on a work record. The federal benefit rate above is the starting point; countable income is subtracted from it, and many states add a supplement on top.

The resource limits are the part of SSI that has not moved. $2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for a couple are not indexed to anything and have not changed in decades, while the benefit rate has risen with every adjustment.

The federal benefit rate every year since 1975 — including the derivation from unrounded annual amounts that the obvious method gets wrong, and the flat statutory increase of July 1983 that SSA’s own table labels as a percentage.

The other programmes

• Social Security Retirement

  The rates, the formula and the COLA as they apply to a retired worker.

• Social Security Disability (SSDI)

  The disability rates, the work thresholds and how the COLA reaches a disabled worker.

• Survivors Benefits

  Widow and widower rates, the family maximum, and how the COLA applies to a survivor payment.

• Spousal Benefits

  The spousal percentage of the worker PIA, the family maximum ceiling and the COLA.

• Children's Benefits

  What a child on a worker record receives, and the family maximum that caps it.

The rates behind these figures

• Average benefitsand the distribution
• Maximum benefit$4,152 at FRA
• Bend pointsthe formula
• SSI rateevery year
• The 2026 COLA2.8%
• Your amount24 FRA years too