Policy Basics: Supplemental Security Income

Created in 1972, the federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program provides monthly cash assistance to disabled or elderly people who have little income and few assets. Like the Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program, commonly known as Social Security, SSI is administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA). In April 2022, 7.6 million people received SSI benefits.

Who qualifies for SSI and what benefits do they receive?

The vast majority of SSI recipients, 85 percent, are eligible due to a severe disability (including blindness). As of April 2022, approximately 1 million beneficiaries were children. Since SSI is available only to people who are disabled (or elderly) and who have very low income and assets, more disabled children become eligible for SSI when poverty rates rise.

SSI recipients cannot have more than $2,000 in assets for individuals and $3,000 for couples, with certain exceptions. Because recipients typically have no other source of income, more than half receive the basic monthly SSI benefit, which in 2022 is $841 for an individual and $1,261 for a couple.

SSA reduces these benefit amounts for beneficiaries who have other sources of income or live in a Medicaid facility or with someone who provides support. For example, while SSA exempts (or “ignores”) the first $20 per month of unearned income when determining an individual's SSI eligibility and benefit levels, any income above that amount from sources such as such as Social Security benefits, pensions, interest, and child support is subtracted from SSI benefits. Similarly, SSA ignores the first $65 per month of earnings, but each dollar of earnings above that level generally reduces SSI benefits by 50 cents. Such reductions reduced the average monthly SSI benefit to $625 in April 2022.

The eligibility criteria for SSI are strict. All applicants must meet the strict financial criteria for SSI, and applicants for disability benefits must also meet the same rigorous medical criteria used for Social Security Disability Insurance. Most applications for SSI disability benefits are denied. SSA rejects applicants who are technically disqualified (mainly because they have income or assets above the eligibility limits) and sends the rest to the state's disability determination services (DDS) for medical evaluation. About 40 percent of applicants were eligible for SSI in 2018-19. Among US territories, only residents of the Northern Mariana Islands receive SSI benefits. Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands receive a federal block grant called Aid to the Aged, Blind, and Disabled (AABD), which provides much lower benefits and eligibility. American Samoa does not have SSI or AABD.

How has SSI changed over time?

Since SSI benefits were first distributed in 1974, the proportion of seniors receiving benefits has steadily declined, primarily because fewer people in this group qualify under SSI's increasingly stringent income limits. The proportion of children and adults with disabilities receiving SSI grew, in part due to policy changes in 1984 that expanded eligibility based on mental disabilities and a 1990 Supreme Court ruling that expanded the SSI disability criteria for children . A legal change in 1996 restricted eligibility for children and immigrants. The proportion of people in the US who receive SSI has remained constant at about 2.15 percent for the past decade and is projected to decline slightly over the long term. The proportion of people in specific age groups receiving SSI is expected to remain stable or (in the case of seniors) continue to decline.

How is SSI funded?

Unlike Social Security, which is funded by dedicated payroll taxes, SSI is funded by general revenue. SSI spending, at $60 billion in fiscal 2021, was 0.27 percent of gross domestic product that year. More than $9 of every $10 pays for benefits; the rest covers administrative expenses. SSI's administrative costs are substantially higher than Social Security's due to its complex rules.

How effective is SSI?

Before any state supplements and without deductions from income, SSI benefits are about three-fourths of the poverty line for a single person. Therefore, while SSI alone is not enough to lift someone living independently above the poverty line, it reduces hardship and lessens the need for support from family members. But, in 2016, about half of all recipients had income below the federal poverty line, even with their SSI benefits.

Many other elderly or disabled people in need, including people with legal immigration status affected by the 1996 eligibility restrictions, do not receive benefits.

Ways to improve SSI

Congress can strengthen SSI by updating the asset limits and income omissions and indexing them for inflation. Asset limits have been frozen since 1989 and income omissions have remained the same since SSI's launch in 1974, preventing many older adults and disabled people in need from qualifying.

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