Social Security Work Credits

Work credits are based on your total wages for the year. If you work and pay Social Security taxes, for every $1,730 (in 2024) you make each quarter while working, you earn 1 work credit. You can earn up to 4 work credits for every year that you work.

The amount that you need to earn each year usually increases a little bit each year to adjust for inflation. These work credits are required in order to receive Social Security Disability Insurance benefits. As a general rule, you remain "insured" for SSDI benefits for about five years after you stop working. This means that if are trying to get SSDI benefits you must show that you became disabled before your insured status expired. This is called your Date Last Insured or DLI. Once you are on SSDI the date last insured is extended automatically.

How Are Work Credits Earned?

Workers can receive a maximum of four work credits each year. The exact amount of work credits you earn each year will depend on your employment activity and the amount of your earnings. In 2024 a worker must earn $1,730 to earn one work credit. In order to qualify for Social Security Disability benefits, you will generally need to have earned a total of 20 work credits, although there are age exceptions to this rule. Once you earn work credits, they stay on your record, so if you become unemployed or change jobs you do not lose the work credits that have earned.

How Many Social Security Credits You Need to Qualify for SSDI

You generally need 40 work credits to qualify for SSDI. 20 of the 40 work credits need to be earned in the last 10 years ending with the year your disability begins. However, the younger you are when you become disabled, the fewer work credits you will need. The rules can get complicated.

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