There are 9.4 million military veterans receiving Social Security benefits, which means that almost one out of every four adult Social Security beneficiaries has served in the United States. Two out of every five recipients either are veterans or reside with family members who are veterans. Veteran recipients are overwhelmingly male compared with all adult Social Security beneficiaries who are more evenly split between males and females. Fourteen percent of veterans receiving Social Security benefits have income below 150 percent of poverty, while 25 percent of all adult Social Security beneficiaries are below this level. Military veterans constitute an important subgroup of beneficiaries of the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (Social Security) program. The number of veterans who receive Social Security benefits grew steadily from the late 1960’s through the mid-1990’s but has since leveled off.
Since 1957, millions of people on active duty in the military have been covered by Social Security and have paid Social Security taxes. Social Security has covered inactive duty service in the armed forces reserves (such as weekend drills) since 1988. As a result, these veterans are able to draw Social Security retirement benefits along with their military retirement benefits. Special extra earnings for military service from 1957 through 2001 can be credited to your Social Security benefits. These extra earnings credits can help people qualify for Social Security and/or increase the amount of Social Security Benefit received. For those who served as Military personnel between 1957 and 1977, credits equal $300 for each quarter of active-duty pay. Those serving between 1978 and 2001 receive credits equal to an additional $100 in earnings for each $300 they receive in active-duty pay (total credits may not exceed $1,200 a year). Earnings in 2002 and later are not supplemented with credits. For each month of active-duty service from September 1940 through 1956, a person is credited with $160 of earnings for the purpose of computing Social Security benefits. Although veterans may have received military credits to supplement their earnings in active-duty pay years before 2002, those particular years of earnings are not necessarily included in the highest-earning years that are used to calculate Social Security benefits (for retirement benefits, the highest 35 years of wage-indexed earnings are used). It is reduced by the dollar amount of your monthly other benefit. Special Veterans Benefits is not the same as Supplemental Security Income (SSI). It is a separate benefit program and is financed by the United States Treasury.
