Who Qualifies for Social Security Income?

The Social Security administration regulates who receives Social Security income. Generally, Social Security income is available for retired or disabled individuals.

Retirement Generally

Social Security retirement benefits are available to retired individuals who are at least 65 to 67 years of age, depending on the year they were born. People born after 1938 must be at least 67.

Retirement Benefits

The amount of your retirement benefits depends on how many years you worked in the U.S. before retiring. As of 2009, the maximum benefit for a person who worked at least 35 years is $2,323 a month.

SSDI

In addition to retirement, the Social Security administration provides Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). SSDI is available to disabled individuals who have worked at least 1 1/2 of the past three years.

SSI

The Supplement Security Income (SSI) program is similar to the SSDI program, except the SSI program is available to low-income disabled individuals, even if the individual has not worked before.

Disability

To qualify for SSDI or SSI, you must have a legitimate disability as determined by your state agency in charge of investigating SSDI and SSI claims. The state agency will review your medical records and possibly conduct further investigation to discover whether you are disabled.

References

• Social Security Administration