Average Social Security Disability Payments
Your Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefit amount is based on your lifetime earnings—not your current income or savings.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) uses a formula to calculate your disability benefits. The monthly checks are different for everyone.
How much you’ll get is probably top of mind as you apply for benefits. You need to know it as you try to make ends meet when your life is derailed by a hit to your health.
Here’s where payments stood as of 2025:
- Average SSDI benefit (U.S.): about $1,580/month after the 2025 cost-of-living adjustment.
- Most people receive: between $1,200 and $1,800/month, depending on work history.
- Maximum SSDI benefit: $4,018/month, for those with the highest lifetime earnings.
If your income and resources are limited, you might also qualify for Supplemental Security Income (SSI), which has set federal maximum rates in 2025:
- Individual: $967/month
- Couple: $1,450/month
These benefits may not replace your full paycheck, but they can provide lifeline covering essentials while you focus on your health.
At Hanley Disability, our team of skilled disability advocates works hard to make sure you get every dollar you’re entitled to receive.
Get a FREE disability claim evaluation.
How Are Social Security Disability Benefits Calculated?
Social Security calculates your SSDI payments using your Average Indexed Monthly Earnings (AIME), which means your highest-earning years adjusted for inflation.
From there, they apply a formula to determine your Primary Insurance Amount, or PIA, which becomes the basis for your monthly check.
Most years Social Security applies a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), so your benefit changes with inflation. This means your monthly check can increase a little from year to year.
With SSI, the calculation of your monthly benefit works differently: Social Security starts with the federal maximum and reduces it based on other income you have.
These formulas are confusing, but you don’t have to figure it out alone. The disability advocates at Hanley can make sure your benefits are correct.
Hanley Disability is dedicated entirely to winning benefits for people like you. Whether you’re in Indianapolis, Danville, Franklin, Lebanon, Noblesville, anywhere in Indiana or around the country, we can guide you through the process and help you move toward a more secure situation.
Contact us today for a free case review—you pay nothing unless we win your benefits.
