No matter what type of Social Security benefit you are eligible to receive there are limits on how much your Social Security check will be. There are Social Security retirement benefits, Social Security disability benefits, Social Security survivor’s benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), all which have maximum benefit amounts. These maximum benefit amounts are announced each year. Most years the maximum benefit amount for all types of benefits increases because of a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). Now that we know that the Social Security COLA will be 1.6 percent, we can estimate what the maximum benefit amount for benefits will be in 2020.
The maximum Social Security retirement benefit in 2019 was $2,861 per month. No matter how much a person paid into Social Security, this is the absolute most a person could earn each month in Social Security retirement benefits. The addition of COLA will increase the maximum monthly retirement benefit to $3,011.
The other maximum benefit amount closely watched is SSI. Because SSI is a needs-based safety net program for people who are disabled or retired, there are asset and income limitations to qualify for benefits. In 2019 the maximum monthly SSI amount was $771. The COLA addition will increase the maximum monthly SSI benefit each month to $783, an increase of just $12.
In addition to the maximum monthly benefit amounts increasing by 1.6 percent in 2020, there will also be adjustments to Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) thresholds. Social Security’s SGA rules limit a person’s work-related income in order to meet technical requirements for disability benefits. In 2019 SGA was $1,220 per month in gross income from work related activities. Other things will also change in 2020 like the SSI student exclusion, but a limit on SSI resources is likely to stay the same.
