Congress established the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program in 1972 by amending the Social Security Act (Act) to include
Title XVI, with payments beginning in 1974. The Social Security Administration (SSA) administers the program. SSI replaced the former Federal‑State programs of
Old-Age Assistance, Aid to the Blind, and Aid to the Permanently and Totally Disabled in the 50 States and the District of Columbia. Residents of the Northern Mariana Islands became eligible for SSI in January 1978.
In 2019, the SSI program provides a monthly Federal cash payment of $771 ($1,157 for a couple if both members are eligible) for an eligible person living in his or her own household and having no other
countable income. Since 1975, these Federal SSI benefit rates have increased with the same cost-of-living adjustment applied to benefits under the Old‑Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (
OASDI) program. In addition to setting a Federal benefit standard, the legislation establishing SSI also permitted individual States to supplement the Federal payment with an additional monthly amount. As described in section
III.G, these
State supplementation payments can be either voluntary at the option of the individual States or, in certain cases, mandatory under requirements in effect when the SSI program began.