Social Security Disability Changes in 2025: What Beneficiaries Should Expect
Anyone submitting an application for disability benefits or already receiving them wants to know: What changes are coming to Social Security in 2025 disability? Changes to the monthly benefit payments and other aspects of the Social Security Disability and Supplemental Security Income programs are in store.
Here is a review of the changes you can expect to see. If you have questions or need professional assistance, count on the disability attorneys at American Disability Action Group to be there for you.
Increase In Your Monthly Benefit Payments
Recipients of SSDI and SSI benefits will receive more money each month thanks to a cost-of-living adjustment of 2.5%. It’s not as much as the 3.2% increase in 2024, but it raises the maximum monthly SSI federal benefits to $967 for individuals and $1,450 for couples.
For purposes of comparison, the maximum federal benefits an individual could receive from SSI in 2024 were $943. The maximum monthly payment to couples was $1,415. 2024 SSI resource limits of $2,000 for individuals and $3,000 for couples remain unchanged in 2025.
The COLA increase in 2025 also applies to SSDI benefits. Monthly benefit amounts under the SSDI program depend on an individual’s average earnings during the years they worked before the onset of a disability. The maximum SSDI monthly payment in 2024, $3,822, increased to $4,018 in 2025 due to the COLA increase. The average monthly SSDI payment benefit in 2024 was $1,542, but it increases in 2025 to $1,580.
The COLA increase also brought with it 2025 SSDI changes to benefits payable to a worker’s spouse and children. The following are the monthly benefits for 2024 and 2025:
- Surviving spouse with no children: $1788 in 2024 and $1,832 in 2025.
- Surviving spouse and two children: $3,669 in 2024 and $3,761in 2025.
- Disabled worker, spouse, and one or more children: $2,757 in 2024 and $2,826 in 2025.
New benefit payment amounts for recipients of SSDI and SSI are not the only SSA 2025 disability program changes.
Changes To The Amount Of The Substantial Gainful Activity Earnings Limits
A person must be disabled to receive disability benefits through SSDI and SSI. The definition of disability used by the Social Security Administration requires a person to be unable to do substantial gainful activity due to a medically determinable physical or mental impairment expected to last for at least one year or result in death.
- The SSA uses a person’s monthly earnings from working to determine their ability to do substantial gainful activity (SGA). The SGA earnings limit in 2025 is $1,620 per month.
- A person earning more than $1,620 during a month in 2025 is considered to have the ability to do SGA. The SGA limit for a person who is blind is $2,700 per month.
- Again, for comparison purposes, the SGA limit for a blind person in 2024 was $2,590. For a non-blind individual in 2024, the SGA limit was $1,550.
Working While Receiving Disability Benefits
If you receive SSDI benefits and want to test your ability to work, you can do so through the Social Security Administration’s trial work period. A trial work period gives you nine months to work without the money earned affecting your monthly SSDI benefit payments. This is true even if you exceed the SGA limit for a month.
The trial work period is nine months, but they do not have to be used consecutively. You have 60 months to complete the trial work period.
Any month that you earn $1,160 or more counts as one of your trial work months. Social Security disability 2025 thresholds for trial months increased from $1,110 in 2024.
Student Exclusions Under The SSI Program
A child who is blind or disabled and attends school, college, or university can work without their earnings affecting their monthly SSI benefits. The student exclusion also applies to a course of study at a technical or vocational training school.
Generally, a student’s earned income from working reduces the amount of their SSI benefit payment. However, a 2025 SSI rules update allows them to exclude part of their earnings.
The student exclusion in 2024 was $2,290 monthly. It increased to $2,350 monthly in 2025. The annual exclusion limit also increases in 2025 to $9,460 from the $9,230 that it was in 2024.
Get Help From A Social Security Disability Attorney
New Social Security disability 2025 thresholds are not the only changes that may affect your SSDI and SSI benefits. Social Security disability is a constantly changing area of the law. Keeping up with it can be impossible without the assistance of a skilled and experienced disability attorney from American Disability Action Group. ADAG attorneys stay up to the minute with changes to the laws and regulations that could affect your benefits. Contact us today for a free consultation.
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