Can You Work Part-Time and Still Collect Disability?

You can work part time while collecting disability, but the rules depend on which program pays you. Working part time while on disability is allowed under both Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and each program handles your earnings differently. SSDI has a hard monthly earnings ceiling: cross it and your check stops for that month. SSI uses a formula that reduces your payment gradually as your wages rise, so working almost always leaves you with more total income than not working. Both programs also give you a runway to test employment without losing cash benefits or healthcare on day one.

How Much You Can Earn on SSDI

SSDI turns on one number: Substantial Gainful Activity, or SGA. In 2026, the SGA limit is $1,690 per month for non-blind individuals and $2,830 per month for blind individuals.1Social Security Administration. Substantial Gainful Activity Stay below that figure and your SSDI payment continues untouched. Earn above it after your protected work periods have run out, and the SSA treats you as capable of significant work and ends the benefit.

The SSA doesn’t apply that ceiling on the first day you take a job, though. Two consecutive protection windows let you try working before SGA matters.

The Trial Work Period

The Trial Work Period (TWP) gives you up to nine months to work at any income level while keeping every dollar of your SSDI check. In 2026, a month counts toward the TWP if you earn more than $1,210.2Social Security Administration. Trial Work Period The nine months don’t need to run back to back. They accumulate across any rolling 60-month window, so a stretch of work, a break, and another stretch of work all add up toward the same nine.3Social Security Administration. 20 CFR 404.1592 – The Trial Work Period Earnings during the TWP have no effect on your benefit, no matter how high they go.

The Extended Period of Eligibility

Once you’ve used all nine TWP months, a 36-month Extended Period of Eligibility (EPE) starts automatically. Now SGA matters. Any month your earnings fall below $1,690, your SSDI payment continues. Any month your earnings exceed it, your payment is suspended for that month but your eligibility isn’t lost.4Social Security Administration. SSA POMS DI 13010.210 – Extended Period of Eligibility (EPE) Overview If your hours drop back down, the check restarts with no new application.

The catch comes at the end of that 36-month window. The first month you earn above SGA after the re-entitlement period becomes your Benefit Termination Month, and SSDI ends permanently.4Social Security Administration. SSA POMS DI 13010.210 – Extended Period of Eligibility (EPE) Overview If your earnings hover near the SGA line as you near the end of your EPE, watch the calendar carefully.

Impairment-Related Work Expenses

SGA isn’t calculated from your gross paycheck alone. The SSA subtracts Impairment-Related Work Expenses (IRWEs), meaning out-of-pocket costs for items or services you need because of your disability in order to work.5Social Security Administration. 20 CFR 404.1576 – Impairment-related Work Expenses Qualifying costs include wheelchair maintenance, specialized transportation, service animals, prosthetics, prescription medications you need to function at work, and assistive technology. If you earn $1,800 in gross wages but spend $200 on qualifying IRWEs, your countable earnings drop to $1,600, which is below the 2026 non-blind SGA limit. The expense has to be paid by you (not reimbursed by insurance) and reasonable for your area.

How Much You Can Earn on SSI

SSI does not use SGA as a cutoff. Instead, wages reduce your SSI payment through a formula that always leaves you with more money by working. The SSA applies these exclusions before any earnings are counted:

Here’s how that plays out. Suppose you earn $800 a month at a part-time job and have no other income. Subtract the $20 general exclusion, leaving $780. Subtract the $65 earned income exclusion, leaving $715. Cut that in half: $357.50 is your countable income. Against the 2026 federal benefit rate of $994, your SSI check drops by $357.50 to $636.50.8Social Security Administration. SSI Federal Payment Amounts Wages plus SSI now total $1,436.50, well above what you’d receive on SSI alone. IRWEs come off your earned income for SSI the same way they do for SSDI.

The 2026 federal SSI maximum is $994 per month for an individual and $1,491 for a couple, and many states add a supplement.8Social Security Administration. SSI Federal Payment Amounts Countable resources still can’t exceed $2,000 for an individual or $3,000 for a couple.9Social Security Administration. Understanding Supplemental Security Income SSI Resources

If You’re a Student Under 22

If you’re under age 22 and regularly attending school, the Student Earned Income Exclusion (SEIE) shelters much more of your paycheck. In 2026, you can exclude up to $2,410 per month, capped at $9,730 for the year.10Social Security Administration. Student Earned Income Exclusion for SSI The SEIE is applied before the $65 earned income exclusion and the 50 percent reduction, which means a student earning $2,000 a month could end up with zero countable earned income.

Keeping Medicare or Medicaid After You Start Working

For a lot of people, healthcare matters more than the monthly check. Both programs protect coverage past the point where your cash benefit ends.

If you’re on SSDI and your payments eventually stop because of SGA, your Medicare doesn’t stop with them. You keep premium-free Medicare Part A for at least 93 consecutive months after your Trial Work Period, as long as your disabling condition continues.11Social Security Administration. Medicare Information Combined with the nine-month TWP, that’s roughly eight and a half years of continued hospital coverage from the time you start working. After it ends, you can buy into Medicare Part A by paying a premium.

If you’re on SSI, Section 1619(b) protects your Medicaid when your wages push your SSI cash payment to zero. You keep Medicaid as long as you still meet the disability requirement, need Medicaid to keep working, meet all other non-disability SSI rules, and earn below your state’s annual threshold.12Social Security Administration. Continued Medicaid Eligibility Section 1619(B) Thresholds vary widely by state, so check the SSA’s 1619(b) page for your figure. Below it, Medicaid stays intact even with no SSI check.

If Part-Time Work Doesn’t Work Out

Going back to work is less risky than it looks, because you can get benefits back on a fast track if your condition takes you out again. Expedited Reinstatement (EXR) is available within five years (60 months) of the month your benefits ended, if your medical condition is the same as or related to the original impairment and prevents you from earning above SGA.13Social Security Administration. SSA POMS DI 13050.001 – Expedited Reinstatement (EXR) Overview

While the SSA reviews your EXR request, you receive provisional benefits for up to six months, with no waiting period and no new disability determination first.14Social Security Administration. Expedited Reinstatement (EXR) If the SSA approves the reinstatement, benefits continue. If it denies your request, you generally don’t have to repay the provisional benefits you already received. EXR isn’t available if your prior entitlement was a closed period of disability, and you can’t be performing SGA in the month you file.

Reporting Your Wages

Whichever program pays you, report your work. The SSA uses your earnings to adjust your benefits, and if it pays you too much because you didn’t report income, you’ll eventually owe the money back.

SSI recipients must report wages by the sixth day of the month after they’re paid, using the SSA mobile wage reporting app, the automated phone line, or the main SSA number.15Social Security Administration. Report Monthly Wages and Other Income SSDI recipients report changes in job status, employer, hours, and pay by calling SSA or signing into their online Social Security account.16Social Security Administration. Report Changes to Work and Income Report any time your job situation changes: a new employer, different hours, a raise, or the end of a job.

Keep pay stubs, copies of anything you send the SSA, and confirmation numbers from phone or online reports. If the SSA finds it overpaid you, it will notify you and start recovering the money, usually by withholding future benefits. You can ask for a waiver of that recovery by filing Form SSA-632 if the overpayment wasn’t your fault and repaying it would cause hardship or be unfair.17Social Security Administration. Request for Waiver of Overpayment Recovery (Form SSA-632-BK) The waiver isn’t automatic, but consistent reporting usually keeps you out of that situation entirely.

Programs That Support Going Back to Work

Two SSA programs help you plan a return to work with less financial risk.

Ticket to Work is a free, voluntary program open to SSDI and SSI beneficiaries aged 18 through 64.18Social Security Administration. Ticket to Work Program Overview It connects you with employment networks and vocational rehabilitation providers for job training, résumé help, career counseling, and placement. There’s a second benefit: while you’re actively using your ticket, the SSA won’t initiate a medical Continuing Disability Review to reexamine whether you still qualify.19Social Security Administration. Protection From Medical Continuing Disability Reviews Even without a ticket, beneficiaries who have received disability benefits for at least 24 months won’t face a medical CDR triggered solely by work activity, though regularly scheduled CDRs still happen.

A Plan to Achieve Self-Support (PASS) is for SSI recipients or people who could qualify for SSI. It lets you set aside income or resources to pay for something you need to reach a specific work goal: tuition, vocational training, business equipment, or professional licensing fees.20Social Security Administration. SI 00870.001 – Plan to Achieve Self-Support (PASS) Overview Money you set aside under an approved PASS doesn’t count when the SSA calculates your SSI eligibility or payment, so you can shelter income that would otherwise reduce your check as long as it’s funding the plan.21Social Security Administration. Spotlight on Plan to Achieve Self Support The plan must be in writing with a specific work goal, listed steps and expenses, a funding source, and a timetable. Your local SSA office or a benefits counselor can help you put one together.