Supplemental Security Income Limits for 2025 and 2026
The max monthly SSI benefit depends on your marital status, what you earn, your assets and where you live.
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The 2025 monthly maximum SSI benefit is $967 for individuals and $1,450 for couples. In 2026, the monthly maximum SSI benefit is $994 for individuals and $1,491 for couples. To qualify in 2025, you must make less than $2,019 per month in wages as a single person or less than $2,985 per month as a married couple and satisfy other eligibility requirements.
The Social Security Administration reduces your SSI benefit by your “countable income” — an amount calculated by the SSA that includes earned and unearned income.
Some states also offer supplemental payments to SSI recipients.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) adjusts benefit rates and eligibility requirements annually.
2025 and 2026 SSI maximum benefit amounts
2025 monthly maximum SSI benefit | 2026 monthly maximum SSI benefit | |
|---|---|---|
Individuals living alone | $967 ($11,604.53 per year). | $994 ($11,929.46 per year). |
Individuals living in another household | $644.67 ($7,736.04 per year). | $663 ($7,953 per year). |
Couples living alone | $1,450 ($17,404.87 per year). | $1,491 ($17,892.21 per year). |
Couples living in another household | $966.67 ($11,600.04 per year). | $994 ($11,925 per year). |
SSI resource limit amounts
Total wages or net self-employment income | Income from pensions or gifts | Owned assets and resources | |
|---|---|---|---|
Individual | Less than $2,019 per month. | Less than $987 per month. | Less than $2,000 total. |
Couple | Less than $2,985 per month. | Less than $1,470 per month. | Less than $3,000 total. |
You may still be eligible for SSI even if your income or assets don't seem to meet the requirements. Certain assets are automatically excluded, such as Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) accounts or a Plan to Achieve Self-Support (PASS), some trusts and some burial funds.
What counts as income?
To qualify for SSI, your income must be under certain limits. SSI considers these things as income:
Wages.
Free or discounted food or shelter.
Net earnings from self–employment.
Certain royalties, honoraria, and sheltered workshop payments.
Social Security benefits, pensions, state disability payments and' unemployment benefits.
Interest income or dividends.
Cash from other people.
A portion of your spouse's income, parent's income or sponsor's income if you live with them.
What counts as a resource or asset?
To qualify for SSI, you also must have assets under certain limits. SSI considers these things as assets:
Cash.
Bank accounts.
Stocks, mutual funds and U.S. savings bonds.
Land.
Life insurance.
Personal property.
Vehicles.
Any additional possessions that can be sold or changed to cash and used to cover living expenses like food or housing.
SSA deemed resources. These are assets or resources that belong to an applicant's parent (for children living with parents) or spouse, but count as though they belong to the applicant.
What isn’t counted as an asset or resource?
Your home and the lot it sits on.
One vehicle if it's used for transportation by members of your household.
Life insurance policies with $1,500 or less combined value.
Burial plots.
Burial funds of $1,500 or less.
Health flexible spending arrangements (FSAs).
Property used in a trade or business.
Disaster relief assistance.
$2,000 per calendar year for participating in certain clinical trials.
Grants, scholarships, fellowships or gifts set aside to pay educational expenses for nine months after receipt.
Money or property set aside under a PASS if you have a disability.
ABLE accounts with up to $100,000 in funds.
Retroactive SSI or Social Security benefits, state or local relocation assistance payments, crime victim's assistance are excluded but only for up to nine months.
Earned income tax credit payments, federal tax refunds and advanced tax credits are excluded but only for up to 12 months.
A set amount of parental resources. For a child under 18 years old living with one parent, $2,000 of that parent's resources will not be counted in their SSI eligibility. For a child living with both parents, $3,000 will not be counted. Any amounts exceeding the parents' limits will be counted as part of that child's $2,000 resource limit.
Who isn’t eligible for SSI?
Aside from satisfying certain income and resource requirements, here are a few reasons you might not qualify for SSI:
You have an unsatisfied felony charge or an outstanding arrest warrant or any pending criminal charges that have not been resolved in a court of law.
You are currently incarcerated. This includes prison, jail and correctional facilities like detention centers or halfway houses. You won't be eligible for SSI during any full calendar month that you're incarcerated. However, you should be able to apply for benefits before your anticipated release.
You currently reside in a public institution. If you spend a whole month in any government-run institution, be it federal, state or local, you won't be eligible for SSI during that time. There is an exception if you’re staying in a public emergency shelter for the homeless or a publicly operated community residence.
You transferred or sold resources in order to qualify. This is not a good workaround. If you sold the resource or asset for less than its actual value just to meet the SSI income limit, you may not be eligible for SSI for up to 36 months. Moving resources to certain types of trusts could also prevent you from qualifying for SSI for up to 36 months.
You are a noncitizen who receives SSI, but lose noncitizen status. If you no longer meet the requirements for qualified noncitizen status, or there is an active warrant for your deportation from the U.S., your SSI benefits will stop and you will no longer be eligible.
You are living or traveling outside the United States for a month or more. If you spend a whole month outside the U.S., you won't be eligible for SSI benefits during that time. But there are exceptions for students studying abroad or a child of military parents stationed overseas. Once you've been outside the U.S. for a continuous stretch of 30 days or more, you’ll need to be back in the U.S. for another 30 consecutive days to become eligible for those SSI benefits again.
How to sign up for SSI
Head to the Social Security Administration website to start the SSI application process online. From there, a Social Security representative will contact you to schedule an appointment and assist you in applying for benefits.
You can also call the Social Security Administration at 800-772-1213 from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., in your local time zone, Monday through Friday.
You may need the following information and documents:
Social Security number.
Proof of age, such as a birth certificate.
Record of citizenship status, such as a U.S. passport or green card.
Proof of income, such as payroll stubs.
Proof of resources, such as bank statements.
Proof of living arrangements, such as a lease.
Medical sources, such as medication lists and your doctor’s contact information.
Work history, such as information about past jobs.
