SSDI Income Limit Calculator

SSDI and SSI income limits for 2026 and 2027

SSDI and SSI both test work against monthly dollar amounts that SSA sets each calendar year. SSA published the 2027 amounts in October 2026, along with a 3.6% cost-of-living adjustment, so the calculator covers both years. Switch between them with the Year buttons.

Sources: SSA's pages on substantial gainful activity (2026) and the trial work period, its SSI federal payment amounts, and its 2027 COLA fact sheet.

The two programs treat work differently. SSDI is a monthly cliff: a month's work earnings are either over the line or not, and SSDI for that month is paid or not paid. SSI is a sliding scale: countable income lowers the check a little at a time.

How SSDI tests each month: SGA, trial work months and IRWE

For the SGA test, SSA starts from your gross pay and subtracts impairment-related work expenses (IRWE): costs you pay yourself, aren't reimbursed for, and need in order to work because of your condition. It doesn't subtract payroll deductions such as income taxes. Sick, vacation and holiday pay are left out, because they don't come from work you did. What's left is your countable earnings, and only a month with countable earnings over the line is SGA. A month at exactly $1,690 in 2026 is not.

The trial work test is stricter. Any month with gross pay over $1,210 in 2026 ($1,270 in 2027) is a trial work month, and IRWE doesn't come off first. You get 9 of these months, not necessarily in a row, within a rolling 60-month window, and SSDI is paid through all of them. After that, the rules work in this order:

1. Trial work period: SSDI is paid every month, whatever you earn, until you've used your 9 trial work months.
2. Extended period of eligibility: the 36 months that follow. SSA judges each month on its own here, with no averaging.
3. Grace period: the first month over SGA after the trial work period, and the 2 months after it, are still paid.
4. After the grace period: for the rest of the extended period, SSDI is suspended for any month over SGA and paid for any month under it.

SSDI counts earnings in the month you earn them. SSA uses the month you were paid only when it can't tell which pay period the earnings belong to.

Here's how IRWE can split the two tests. Say you earn $20 an hour for 21 hours a week. In an average month that's $1,820 of gross pay ($20 × 21 × 52 ÷ 12), which is over the 2026 SGA line of $1,690. With $150 a month of IRWE, countable earnings drop to $1,670, so the month is under SGA. It's still a trial work month, though: $1,820 of gross pay is over $1,210, and IRWE doesn't count for that test.

How work changes an SSI check

SSI starts from the federal benefit rate ($994 a month for one person in 2026, $1,029 in 2027) and subtracts your countable income. SSA works out countable income in this order:

1. $20 comes off unearned income first, such as an SSDI check, a pension or unemployment.
2. Any part of that $20 left over comes off your gross wages, then $65 more.
3. If you're not blind, impairment-related work expenses come off next.
4. Half of the wages that remain are counted.
5. If you're blind, blind work expenses come off after that.

SSA's own 2026 example: $317 in wages, minus $20 and $65, leaves $232. Half of that is $116 of countable income, and $994 minus $116 is an $878 SSI payment.

Now take $15 an hour for 20 hours a week and no other income. SSA takes the $20 and the $65 off an average month's gross pay and counts half of the rest: $607.50. With the 2026 federal rate, that leaves $386.50 of federal SSI and $1,686.50 of total monthly income, pay included. Without other income, federal SSI reaches $0 at $2,073 a month of gross pay in 2026 and $2,143 in 2027.

Work expenses don't count the same way. IRWE comes off before the one-half step, so each $1 of it adds $0.50 to SSI: in that example, $100 of IRWE raises the payment from $386.50 to $436.50. Blind work expenses come off after the half, so each $1 adds a full $1: $100 of them raises it to $486.50.

Two rules protect working SSI recipients. Under Section 1619(a), earnings over the SGA line don't end SSI once you're getting it: the formula sets the payment. Under Section 1619(b), Medicaid can continue after the payment reaches $0, if you meet its conditions.

Timing matters too. SSI counts wages in the month you receive them, and your payment is generally figured from income two months earlier. This calculator shows the federal payment only: state supplements aren't included.

Turning the lines into hours a week

SSA's lines are monthly dollar amounts. To turn one into hours a week, multiply it by 12, divide by 52, then divide by your hourly rate. The calculator rounds the result down to a tenth of an hour, so working that many hours in an average month keeps gross pay at or under the line. With no IRWE and no other income, the lines come out like this:

As weekly gross pay, the 2026 lines are $279.23 (trial work), $390.00 (SGA) and $478.38 (SSI reaches $0). For 2027 they're $293.08, $408.46 and $494.54.

A real month isn't always 4.33 weeks of work. A 31-day month with 23 weekdays holds more shifts than an average one, so it can go over a line that the weekly figure stays under. For SSI, which counts pay when you receive it, a month with a third biweekly paycheck counts more. The pay period calculator flags those three-paycheck months, and the biweekly pay calculator shows biweekly pay as a monthly amount.

Overtime and shift differentials raise gross pay, so if your rate changes from shift to shift, use your average rate. SGA and SSI both start from gross pay, not take-home pay, which the guide to gross pay vs. net pay explains. The timesheet calculator totals a week's hours and gross pay from clock times, and the part-time paycheck calculator shows what those hours pay after taxes. In ClockWage44, the calendar shows each day's gross pay on a month grid, so you can watch a month's pay build as you log shifts.

What this calculator doesn't cover

• State supplements: it estimates federal SSI only.
• The Student Earned Income Exclusion ($2,410 a month and $9,730 a year in 2026; $2,500 and $10,080 in 2027).
• PASS (Plan to Achieve Self-Support).
• Subsidies and special conditions, such as a job coach or extra supervision.
• Self-employment: net earnings, the 80-hour trial work rule and unincurred business expenses.
• Living in someone else's household (the one-third reduction) and other in-kind support.
• Deeming of a spouse's or parent's income, and couples.
• The $2,000 and $3,000 resource limits.
• Age-65 limits on SSI IRWE and blind work expenses.
• Sick, vacation and holiday pay as a separate input. SSDI's SGA test leaves it out, while SSI counts vacation pay as wages.
• The comparable-work rule for blind workers 55 and older.
• Unsuccessful work attempts.
• Expedited reinstatement, and Medicare or Medicaid thresholds such as the Section 1619(b) state thresholds.
• Earnings in months before entitlement.

Every figure here is an estimate, not tax or legal advice. SSA makes the final decision from the earnings you report.