SSI Recipients in Households and Families with Multiple Recipients: Prevalence and Poverty Outcomes

by Melissa Koenig and Kalman Rupp
Social Security Bulletin, Vol. 65 No. 2, 2003/2004
Table equivalent for Chart 1. Percentage of recipients in a noncouple multirecipient household, by data source and age group (in percent)
Age group OQA SIPP
All ages 12.2 21.0
17 or younger 31.7 37.7
18 to 64 11.3 22.0
65 or older 5.4 12.2
SOURCE: Authors' calculations using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation matched to Social Security administrative records.
NOTE: SSI = Supplemental Security Income; OQA = Office of Quality Assurance; SIPP = Survey of Income and Program Participation.
Table equivalent for Chart 2. Average annual household income of SSI recipients, with and without SSI income (in dollars)
Household With SSI Without SSI
One recipient 22,230 18,116
Married couple recipients 21,118 14,892
Noncouple multirecipients 27,150 16,570
SOURCE: Authors' calculations using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation matched to Social Security administrative records.
NOTE: SSI = Supplemental Security Income.
Table equivalent for Chart 3. Adult SSI recipients in poverty according to monthly income, by unit of observation (in percent)
Household SSI unit Family Household
One recipient 79.3 58.5 53.3
Married couple recipients 49.5 47.5 44.9
Noncouple multirecipients 78.9 31.0 17.2
SOURCE: Authors' calculations using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation matched to Social Security administrative records.
NOTE: SSI = Supplemental Security Income.
Table equivalent for Chart 4. SSI recipients in one- and two-person households in poverty, as measured by the federal poverty threshold and the experimental three-parameter scale (in percent)
Household Federal threshold Three-parameter scale
One recipient living alone 79.7 74.4
One recipient in two-person household 31.4 32.2
Two recipients in two-person household
(married couple)		 43.9 50.6
Two recipients in two-person household
(noncouple multirecipients)		 9.6 9.0
SOURCE: Authors' calculations using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation matched to Social Security administrative records.
NOTE: SSI = Supplemental Security Income.