Social Security

Size and Scope of the Supplemental Security Income Program

• About 7.5 million people received federally administered payments in December 2008.
• The average monthly payment in December 2008 was $478.
• Total payments for the year were more than $43 billion, including more than $4 billion in federally administered state supplementation.

Profile of Recipients

• The majority were female (56 percent).
• Fifteen percent were under age 18, 58 percent were aged 18 to 64, and 27 percent were aged 65 or older.
• Most (84 percent) were eligible on the basis of a disability.
• Six out of 10 recipients under age 65 were diagnosed with a mental disorder.
• More than half (56 percent) had no income other than their SSI payment.
• Thirty-five percent of SSI recipients also received Social Security benefits.
• Of the people receiving SSI benefits, about 2 percent were residing in a Title XIX institution where Medicaid was paying more than half of the cost.
• Despite their disabilities, about 356,000 recipients (5.5 percent) were working in December 2008.

Since 1974, the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program has guaranteed a minimum level of income for needy aged, blind, or disabled individuals. Each year, we issue a report that presents data on the SSI program and the people who receive benefits from it. The report covers such topics as:

• federal benefit rates, total annual payments, and total recipients;
• federally administered payments;
• recipients of Social Security, SSI, or both;
• children under age 18;
• noncitizens;
• diagnoses of recipients under age 65;
• recipients who work;
• applications;
• awards;
• outcomes of applications for disability benefits; and
• suspension and termination of benefits.

Tables from the discontinued reports Children Receiving SSI and SSI Disabled Recipients Who Work were incorporated into this report beginning with the 2007 edition.

Clark D. Pickett managed the preparation of this report. Alfreda Brooks, Stella Coleman, Nancy Early, Art Kahn, Judi Papas, and Clark Pickett prepared the statistical tables and narratives. Staff of the Division of Information Resources edited the report and prepared the print and electronic versions for publication.

Manuel de la Puente
Associate Commissioner for Research, Evaluation, and Statistics
September 2009

All payments are federally administered payments.

All years are calendar years unless otherwise specified.

Numbers in the text and tables may not add to totals because of rounding.

Monthly data shown in tables are for the end of the given month.

Table 3, "Total recipients by age and source of payment," is new and covers all recipients who received at least one payment during the calendar year. Tables previously numbered 3 and higher have been renumbered.

Table 77, "Recipients terminated, by age and reason for termination," was omitted from the 2007 edition and is now reinstated. Because the methodology for producing termination data has been revised, the data series begins with 2006; when last published, this table showed data for 1998–2005.

Several tables have been revised to provide additional information:

• Table 12 now includes number and average income of all recipients.
• Tables 14 and 32 now include data for Oceania, and detail for the top five countries of origin in most world regions.
• Tables 22, 30, 35, 43, 46, 51, 54, 59, and 65 now include detail for recipients aged 18–21, 22–25, and 26–29.
• Table 30 now includes number and percentage distribution of all recipients.
• Tables 45, 54, 61, and 67 now include percentages.
• Tables 46, 51, 54, and 56 now include detail for additional earnings ranges.