The SSI Student Earned Income Exclusion
SSI student earned income exclusion, 2026
$2,410/mo
Capped at $9,730 for the year. It applies to a student under 22 who is regularly attending school, and it sits on top of the ordinary earned income exclusions.
A student under 22 who regularly attends school can earn a limited amount without SSI counting it. The exclusion is monthly with an annual ceiling, and it applies before the ordinary earned income exclusions rather than instead of them.
| Year | Monthly | Annual ceiling |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $2,410 | $9,730 |
| 2025 | $2,350 | $9,460 |
The exclusion is indexed to the same cost-of-living adjustment as the SSI benefit rate itself, applied and rounded to the nearest ten dollars — which is why the 2.8% adjustment for 2026 does not multiply out exactly. The SSI federal rate series is here.
Only two years are published here
Both years come from the 2026 fact sheet, which publishes the prior year alongside the current one. The longer history for this exclusion lives in SSA’s programme operations manual rather than in the annual actuarial tables, and rather than reconstruct it this page publishes only what is primary-sourced.
The other rate series
- Social Security Wage Base
The maximum earnings subject to the Social Security payroll tax, and the employee contribution it implies.
- Quarter of Coverage
What one Social Security credit costs in earnings, indexed to the average wage index each year.
- PIA Bend Points
The two dollar hinges in the benefit formula, fixed for life at the year you turn 62.
- Family Maximum Bend Points
The three hinges that cap the total payable on one earnings record.
- Retirement Earnings Test
How much you can earn before benefits are withheld, at both the lower and the FRA-year threshold.
- Substantial Gainful Activity
The monthly earnings level that defines disability work activity, non-blind and blind.
- Trial Work Period
The monthly earnings that make a month count against the nine-month trial work period.
- SSI Federal Payment Rate
The federal SSI standard for an individual and a couple, and the unrounded annual amount each derives from.
- Maximum Social Security Benefit
The highest benefit a worker retiring at full retirement age can receive, and what the COLA does to it.
- Average Social Security Benefit
What SSA publishes as the average payment for each beneficiary category, and the distribution behind it.
- National Average Wage Index
The wage series that indexes the wage base, the bend points and the cost of a credit.
By programme
- Retirementretired workers
- DisabilitySSDI
- SSIthe federal rate
- Survivorswidows and widowers
- Spousalon a worker record
- Childrenand the family maximum
Sources and freshness
- SSA — 2026 COLA fact sheet — verified 10 August 2026
- SSA Office of the Chief Actuary — Cost-of-Living Adjustments — verified 10 August 2026
Figures effective 2026. Page figures last verified against the sources above on 10 August 2026. Corrections: the correction log · support@inventum.com.au