How Much Money Can a Parent Make for a Child to Get SSI?

Christian Worstell
In this article...
  • How much money can a parent make for a child to get SSI? If your child needs financial support from SSI, the SSA may ask about your income. Learn more below.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) uses a multilevel formula for working out how much parental income can be counted for eligibility assessment. This process is called deeming. The SSA deems parents’ incomes in two categories, depending on whether the income is earned or unearned.

Single parents may collect SSI for their eligible children with unearned income as high as $1,868 a month in 2023. Two-parent households may qualify with up to $2,325 in unearned income.

Parents with earned income may earn up to $3,781 a month for single parents with one eligible child, or $4,695 for two-parent households in 2023.

Higher limits apply for families with more than one eligible child in the home. Families with two parents and six eligible children may be eligible for SSI with monthly earned income of up to $5,067 in 2023.

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What Is SSI?

SSI is the supplemental income program operated by the Social Security Administration. Income from this program is intended to support people with low incomes and a qualifying disability.

Minor children with a disability or who are blind may be eligible for a monthly cash benefit that can be spent like any other income. Individuals who qualify for SSI got an average of $654 a month in 2023, though this amount partly depends on the degree to which the recipient is disabled and the family’s income and assets.

How Does the SSA Evaluate Parental Income?

The amount of money each child receives in SSI support is subject to reduction if the parents are deemed to earn more than the federal maximum threshold.

The SSA encourages parents of beneficiaries to continue earning income by staggering its program reductions at a 2-to-1 ratio. Thus, the SSA reduces SSI benefits by $1 for every $2 the parents earn from other sources. Parents’ incomes are largely determined using self-reporting at the time an application is submitted. The reported amounts may be checked against tax returns, paystubs and other proof of income documents.

Have Medicare questions?

Talk to a licensed agent today to find a plan that fits your needs.

Christian Worstell
About the Author

Christian Worstell is a senior Medicare and health insurance writer with HelpAdivsor.com. He is also a licensed health insurance agent. Christian is well-known in the insurance industry for the thousands of educational articles he’s written, helping Americans better understand their health insurance and Medicare coverage.

Christian’s work as a Medicare expert has appeared in several top-tier and trade news outlets including Forbes, MarketWatch, WebMD and Yahoo! Finance.

While at HelpAdvisor, Christian has written hundreds of articles that teach Medicare beneficiaries the best practices for navigating Medicare. His articles are read by thousands of older Americans each month. By better understanding their health care coverage, readers may hopefully learn how to limit their out-of-pocket Medicare spending and access quality medical care.

Christian’s passion for his role stems from his desire to make a difference in the senior community. He strongly believes that the more beneficiaries know about their Medicare coverage, the better their overall health and wellness is as a result.

A current resident of Raleigh, Christian is a graduate of Shippensburg University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. You can find Christian’s most recent articles in our blog.

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