How Old Do You Have To Be For Social Security Disability - Is There An Age Requirement?

How to prove you are disabled
and win disability benefits

Social Security disability has no disabled child’s benefits (minor age children with disabilities file under the SSI program, not the SSD program). The minimum age for Social Security disability benefits is eighteen years old provided the eighteen year old has worked long enough to be insured for Social Security disability. Or, an adult child may be eligible to receive Social Security disability benefits based upon a deceased or living parent’s earnings record.
If their parent is living, they must be entitled to a Social Security retirement or disability benefit for their child (i.e. child, adopted child, or possibly step child, grandchild, or step grandchild) to receive benefits. An adult disabled child must be disabled prior to the age of twenty-two and unmarried.

There is one other situation that has a minimum age requirement. If an individual is filing for disabled widow or widower’s benefits, they must be at least fifty years of age to be eligible to receive benefits.

These are the situations that have a minimum age requirement in order to receive Social Security disability benefits. There are a couple of other situations that involve a "maximum age requirement". Disabled widow or widower’s must be disabled prior to the age of sixty to be eligible for disability benefits based on their deceased spouse’s earnings record. If a widow or widower was not disabled prior to the age of sixty, they are still eligible to receive standard widow or widower’s benefits.

If an individual is within six months of full retirement age, there is no advantage to filing for disability. At this age, they are already entitled to Medicare benefits and the five-month disability waiting period prevents an advantage over full retirement benefits. In fact, all Social Security disability beneficiaries are converted to full retirement beneficiaries at their full retirement age.

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Topics and Questions

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SSD and SSI are Federal Programs

The title II Social Security Disability and title 16 SSI Disability programs operate under federal guidelines and, therefore, the program requirements--medical and non-medical--apply to all states:

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming

Recent approval and denial statistics for various states can be viewed here:

Social Security Disability, SSI Approval and Denial Statistics by state

Special Section: Disability Lawyers and unnecessary claim denials