Social Security

Size and Scope of the Supplemental Security Income Program

• About 8.1 million people received federally administered payments in December 2011.
• The average monthly payment in December 2011 was $502.
• Total payments for the year were more than $49 billion, including more than $3 billion in federally administered state supplementation.

Profile of Recipients

• The majority were female (54 percent).
• Sixteen percent were under age 18, 59 percent were aged 18 to 64, and 25 percent were aged 65 or older.
• Most (85 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 (57 percent) had no income other than their SSI payment.
• Thirty-four 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 313,000 recipients (4.5 percent) were working in December 2011.

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
• suspensions, terminations, and duration of eligibility.

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. 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 web versions for publication.

Manuel de la Puente
Associate Commissioner for Research, Evaluation, and Statistics
September 2012

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 6 now includes number and average monthly payment for recipients by citizenship status.