How Social Security Calculates Monthly Payments
Two different people can successfully apply for Social Security Disability benefits and end up receiving different amounts each month.
It’s important to know what goes into the government’s calculations. Knowing what can affect your monthly payments can help you figure out which benefit you should apply for and plan financially for your future.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) doesn’t make the process of winning benefits easy in the first place.
The government wants to make sure only deserving people get this financial help, but that means plenty of legitimate claims also get denied.
Don’t leave your application for benefits to chance. The Arizona disability lawyers of Slepian Ellexson have been helping people like you for more than 40 years.
We can support you through the entire process, from your initial application to appeals, and you don’t pay an attorney’s fee until you win benefits.
When your health problems prevent you from working, our Phoenix disability lawyers can help you get back on the path to stability and financial independence.
How Much You Can Receive in Monthly SSDI Payments
To qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance, or SSDI, you need a substantial work history. You need to show that you have paid into the system.
Then Social Security will look at up to 35 years of your past earnings to calculate your “Average Indexed Monthly Earnings,” or AIME, but you don’t just receive a disability check matching these average earnings each month.
The SSDI benefits calculator also requires a “Primary Insurance Amount,” or PIA. The PIA is a formula that awards you a certain amount of benefits based on your past income.
This is calculated on a scale, meaning you get a larger percentage of lower amounts of pay but a smaller portion from higher amounts.
As of 2026, that formula looks like this:
- 90% of the first $1,286 of your AIME PLUS
- 32% of your AIME of $1,286 through $7,749 PLUS
- 15% of your AIME over $7,749
Finally, Social Security needs to see if you are receiving other benefits, like workers’ compensation after a job injury, which could reduce your monthly SSDI payment.
The maximum SSDI payment reached $4,152 per month in 2026, but most people don’t receive this much in benefits, only the highest lifetime earners. The 2026 average is closer to $1,630 per month.
Now you can see why the answer to “How much disability will I get?” is not simple. The calculation comes out differently for everyone who applies.
One thing that our clients can be sure of is that our Phoenix disability attorneys always do everything that they can to help people qualify and fight for the fullest amount of SSDI benefits they are eligible to receive.
Get a FREE disability claim consultation.
How Much Would I Receive in SSI Disability?
The calculation for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is different because it isn’t based on what you paid in, it is based on financial need. When you are approved for SSI, you start at the maximum payment of $994 per month for individuals and $1,491 for couples (as of 2026).
Social Security won’t look at your past income because it doesn’t matter. You can qualify for SSI even if you’ve never worked and paid into the system.
You start at the maximum SSI payment, but the amount you’ll actually receive each month can be reduced based on other income and resources you have access to.
Your SSI payment can be reduced due to:
- Income from working (excluding the first $65 you earn each month)
- Income from other sources, like pensions, unemployment benefits or investments
- Your spouse’s income
- Some types of state aid
- Big one-time payments, like lawsuit settlements or inheritances
If you earn too much money, your SSI benefits could be stopped completely. You also need to stay under strict resource limits that haven’t been updated in many years—$2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for a couple.
In some cases, people can qualify for both SSDI and SSI. SSDI usually pays more than SSI, but there are exceptions.
The disability lawyers of Slepian Ellexson can tell you more about the differences between SSI and SSDI in Arizona and which benefits might be better for you.
What Happens When the Cost of Living Increases?
The government acknowledges that the prices of essentials keep going up and that this can be tough for someone on a fixed income.
That’s why SSI and SSDI payments can both increase with Cost-of-Living Adjustments, or COLAs, each year. For 2026, average payments rose 2.8% with the COLA.
Here’s a look at how that can affect payments:
- SSDI maximum monthly benefits rose from $4,018 to $4,152 in 2026
- Average SSDI monthly benefits rose from $1,586 to $1,630
- SSI maximum for an individual rose from $967 to $994
- SSI maximum for a couple rose from $1,450 to $1,491
How Social Security calculates monthly benefits won’t make much of a difference to you if you can’t successfully apply for SSDI or SSI.
It’s not easy to win benefits, but the disability attorneys of Slepian Ellexson know this process well.
We’ve helped thousands of people in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa, Chandler, Tucson and across the state of Arizona in times of need.
