One of the most common fears for people on SSI is that earning any money will cause them to lose their benefits entirely. The good news is that's not how SSI works. The program is designed to let you earn income while still receiving some support—your benefit decreases gradually as your income increases, rather than cutting off all at once. Understanding exactly how this works can help you work without fear and potentially improve your financial situation.
In this article, we'll cover:
- How SSI treats earned income differently than unearned income
- The SSI earned income exclusions that work in your favor
- How to calculate the impact of working on your SSI
- At what point you'd earn too much to receive SSI
- Work incentives that can protect even more of your income
- Why working often makes financial sense despite reduced SSI
Earned vs. Unearned Income on SSI
SSI distinguishes between earned income (wages from a job, self-employment earnings) and unearned income (Social Security benefits, pensions, gifts, etc.). This matters because SSI treats earned income more generously.
The basic idea is that Social Security wants to encourage work. If every dollar you earned cost you a dollar in benefits, there would be no financial incentive to work at all. So SSI uses exclusions and calculations that let you keep more of your earned income.
When you work, your SSI benefit decreases—but not dollar for dollar. For every $2 you earn, your SSI goes down by roughly $1 (after certain exclusions). This means working almost always leaves you with more total income than not working.
The Earned Income Exclusions
SSI excludes certain amounts of income before calculating how your earnings affect your benefit. These exclusions are critical to understanding how much you can earn.
General income exclusion: The first $20 of any income you receive in a month is excluded. If you have no unearned income, this $20 applies to your earned income.
Earned income exclusion: The first $65 of earned income is excluded (in addition to the $20 general exclusion if it wasn't used on unearned income).
One-for-two reduction: After the exclusions, Social Security only counts half of your remaining earned income against your SSI. For every $2 you earn above the exclusions, your SSI goes down by $1.
Let's walk through an example. Say you earn $500 in a month and have no other income:
Start with gross earnings: $500. Subtract $20 general exclusion: $480. Subtract $65 earned income exclusion: $415. Divide by 2: $207.50.
Your "countable earned income" is $207.50. This amount is subtracted from your SSI. If you were receiving the maximum federal SSI of $994 in 2026, your new SSI payment would be $994 minus $207.50, which equals $786.50. Your total monthly income would be $500 in wages plus $786.50 in SSI, equaling $1,286.50—nearly $300 more than if you hadn't worked at all.
How Much Can You Earn Before SSI Reaches Zero?
Given the exclusions and the one-for-two calculation, you can earn quite a bit before your SSI disappears entirely. The formula works backward: your SSI reaches zero when your countable earned income equals your SSI amount.
For someone receiving the maximum federal SSI of $994 in 2026, with no other income, SSI would reach zero at approximately $2,073 in monthly gross earnings. Here's the math:
$2,073 minus $20 general exclusion equals $2,053. $2,053 minus $65 earned income exclusion equals $1,988. $1,988 divided by 2 equals $994 in countable income.
$994 subtracted from $994 maximum SSI equals $0.
Of course, if you have any unearned income, or if your state adds a supplement to the federal SSI rate, the numbers will be different. But the point is that you can earn over $2,000 a month before losing SSI entirely—far more than many people realize.
Work Incentives That Protect Even More Income
Beyond the standard exclusions, SSI has special work incentives that can shield even more of your income from counting against your benefit.
Student Earned Income Exclusion (SEIE): If you're under 22 and regularly attending school, you can exclude up to $2,350 per month (and up to $9,460 per year in 2026) of earned income. This is on top of the standard exclusions, making it possible for students to earn substantial amounts while keeping full or nearly full SSI.
Impairment-Related Work Expenses (IRWE): If you pay for certain disability-related items or services that you need in order to work—like specialized transportation, medication, attendant care, or adaptive equipment—those costs can be deducted from your earnings before SSI calculates your countable income.
Plan to Achieve Self-Support (PASS): A PASS lets you set aside income and resources for a specific work goal, like education, training, or starting a business. Money set aside under an approved PASS doesn't count against your SSI.
Blind Work Expenses (BWE): If you're blind, you can deduct any work-related expenses from your earnings, not just disability-related ones. This includes things like transportation, taxes, meals during work, and professional association dues.
These incentives can significantly increase how much you can earn while still receiving SSI. If you're planning to work, it's worth learning about these programs and using the ones that apply to your situation.
Medicaid and the 1619(b) Protection
Many SSI recipients are more worried about losing Medicaid than losing cash benefits. This is a valid concern, since healthcare costs can easily exceed what you'd save by working.
Fortunately, Section 1619(b) of the Social Security Act protects your Medicaid coverage even after your SSI cash benefit reaches zero due to earnings. As long as you still meet the disability requirements and would be eligible for SSI if you weren't working, your Medicaid continues.
Each state has a threshold amount—if your earnings are below that threshold, you keep Medicaid. These thresholds are often quite high, sometimes over $40,000 per year depending on the state. Your local Social Security office can tell you your state's threshold.
This protection means you can work, potentially earn enough to reduce your SSI to zero, and still keep your healthcare coverage. It removes one of the biggest barriers to employment for people with disabilities.
Why Working Usually Makes Financial Sense
Let's compare two scenarios for someone receiving maximum federal SSI of $994 with no other income:
Scenario 1: Not working. Monthly income: $994 from SSI. Total: $994.
Scenario 2: Working part-time earning $800/month. $800 minus $85 in exclusions equals $715. Divided by 2 equals $357.50 countable income. SSI becomes $994 minus $357.50 which equals $636.50. Total: $800 plus $636.50 equals $1,436.50.
By working and earning $800, you end up with $442.50 more per month than not working—even though your SSI dropped. This is by design. SSI is meant to supplement your income, not replace all incentive to work.
Of course, work has costs too (transportation, clothing, potentially reduced access to other benefits), and not everyone is able to work. But for those who can, the math usually favors working at least part-time.
Knowing exactly how much you can earn—and how it affects your benefits—takes the fear out of working. Purple's checking account helps SSI recipients track their income and resources in one place, so you can work confidently without worrying about surprise overpayments.