Social Security uses a five-step process to decide whether you can still work (20 CFR, Section 404.1520). The steps start with how much you earn now. They end with whether any job exists that fits what your body and mind can still handle. Two ideas shape the whole process. The first is substantial gainful activity (SGA), the monthly earnings level Social Security treats as full-time work. The second is residual functional capacity (RFC), which is the most you can still do despite your medical condition. Here is what happens at each step when you apply for Social Security Disability benefits. Keep in mind that the five steps answer only one question: whether your medical condition keeps you from working. You must also meet each program’s non-medical requirements. For SSDI, you need enough work credits and recent enough work to be insured. For SSI, your income and resources must be below strict limits. Meeting the five-step test is not enough if you do not meet these other requirements.
Does This Process Apply to SSI Claims As Well As SSDI?
Yes, for adults. Social Security uses the same five steps for adults who apply for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Children who apply for SSI go through a different three-step test (20 CFR 416.924). That test looks at how a condition limits the child’s daily functioning, not the ability to work. SSDI and SSI differ in who can apply, not in the five steps.
Step One: Are You Earning Above the Substantial Gainful Activity Limit?
Social Security first checks whether you earn more than the SGA limit. For 2026, the limit is $1,690 a month. If you meet Social Security’s definition of blindness, it is $2,830 a month (20 CFR 404.1572, 404.1574; SSI: 20 CFR 416.972, 416.974). The higher blindness limit applies only to SSDI. SSI claims based on blindness don’t use this earnings test at all. Social Security adjusts these limits each year based on national wage growth. The limit for the year you did the work is the one that applies.
If your earnings are above the limit for your category, Social Security denies the claim at this step without reviewing your medical records at all.
Steps Two and Three: How Severe Is the Condition, and Does It Match a Listed Impairment?
At step two, your condition must be severe. That means it significantly limits basic work tasks, such as walking, sitting, remembering instructions, or handling changes in a normal work routine (20 CFR 404.1520(c), 404.1522; SSI: 20 CFR 416.920(c), 416.922). The condition must also have lasted, or be expected to last, at least 12 months or to result in death (20 CFR 404.1509; SSI: 20 CFR 416.909). A minor or short-term condition does not pass this step.
At step three, Social Security checks its Listing of Impairments. This list covers serious conditions across the body, from certain cancers to severe mental health disorders. Each one has its own medical requirements (20 CFR Part 404, Subpart P, Appendix 1; SSI: 20 CFR 416.925). If your condition matches a listing, or is medically equal to one, Social Security finds you disabled at this step. It doesn’t need to look at your work history. If your condition doesn’t meet a listing, your claim is not over. Social Security measures your residual functional capacity and moves on to steps four and five.
Step Four: What Residual Functional Capacity Means for Your Past Work
Your residual functional capacity, or RFC, is the most you can still do on a regular, full-time basis despite your medical limits (20 CFR 404.1545; SSI: 20 CFR 416.945). It covers physical limits, such as how much weight you can lift or how long you can stand. It also covers mental limits, such as how well you can focus or follow instructions with several steps. Medical records that clearly describe these limits play a big role at this step. Our guide to building a strong disability case explains more.
Next, Social Security compares your RFC to your past relevant work. This generally means jobs you held in the five years before Social Security decides your claim. Each job must have paid at the SGA level and lasted long enough for you to learn it. Work that started and stopped in fewer than 30 calendar days doesn’t count (20 CFR 404.1560(b); SSI: 20 CFR 416.960(b)). If your RFC shows you can still do one of those jobs, Social Security denies the claim. That’s true whether you could do it the way you did before or the way the job is usually done across the country.
Step Five: Can You Adjust to a Different Kind of Work?
At step five, Social Security decides whether you can switch to other work that exists in significant numbers across the country (20 CFR 404.1520(g); SSI: 20 CFR 416.920(g)). It looks at your RFC, age, education, and work history. Social Security reaches this step only if you can’t do your past work or have no past relevant work. To decide, it uses the Medical-Vocational Guidelines, often called the grid rules (20 CFR Part 404, Subpart P, Appendix 2). When the grid rules don’t fit your limits exactly, Social Security relies on other evidence. One example is testimony from a vocational expert, a job market specialist who may speak at a hearing before an administrative law judge.
Age matters a great deal at this step. Social Security treats applicants under 50 as a “younger person,” those 50 to 54 as “closely approaching advanced age,” and those 55 and older as “advanced age” (20 CFR 404.1563; SSI: 20 CFR 416.963). Older applicants are more likely to be found disabled under the grid rules. For example, someone 55 or older who did hard physical work and has no transferable skills (skills from past jobs that carry over to other work) may qualify even if they can still do light work. A younger applicant with transferable skills and fewer limits is more likely to be found able to switch jobs, even with a real medical condition.
What Happens If Social Security Denies Your Claim?
Most SSDI and SSI applications are denied at first. Many of those denials happen at steps four or five, where the question is what work you can still do, not whether you have a medical condition. If Social Security denies your claim, you generally have 60 days from the day you get the denial notice to ask for reconsideration. Reconsideration is the first level of appeal (20 CFR 404.909; SSI: 20 CFR 416.1409). Social Security assumes you got the notice five days after the date printed on it, unless you show otherwise. It can also give you more time for good cause, such as a serious illness that kept you from filing (20 CFR 404.911).
If reconsideration is denied, you generally have 60 days to appeal at each later level. The next levels are a hearing before an administrative law judge, a review by the Appeals Council, and then a lawsuit in federal district court (20 CFR 404.933, 404.968, 404.981). If you miss a deadline without good cause, the decision generally becomes final. You may then need to file a new application.
Talk With Bailey & Galyen About Your Disability Claim
Much of this process depends on how well your medical and work history is documented and presented to Social Security. Call Bailey & Galyen to ask questions about your Social Security Disability claim and learn what options may be available. The firm offers free consultations, and someone is available 24/7 to help you get started.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Can you test your ability to work after you’re already approved for SSDI?
Yes. Social Security calls this a Trial Work Period (20 CFR 404.1592). In 2026, any month you earn more than $1,210 counts as a trial work month. You get nine of these months within a rolling 60-month window. During those months, Social Security still pays your full SSDI benefit, no matter how much you earn. After you use all nine months, a 36-month extended period of eligibility begins. During that time, Social Security generally pays benefits only for months your earnings stay below the SGA limit.
2. If you tried to return to work but couldn’t keep it up, will that hurt your disability application?
It may not. If you tried to go back to work but had to stop or cut back because of your condition, Social Security may treat it as an “unsuccessful work attempt.” Earnings from an unsuccessful work attempt do not count as substantial gainful activity, so they won’t by themselves cause a denial at step one (20 CFR 404.1574(c); SSI: 20 CFR 416.974(c)).
To qualify as an “unsuccessful work attempt,” the work generally must:
- Last six months or less
- End, or drop below the SGA level, because of your condition or because special help at work was taken away
- Follow a real break in work, usually at least 30 days in a row out of work, or a forced change of employer or type of work because of your condition
3. If you work while receiving SSI, does it affect your benefits the same way it does for SSDI?
No. SSI doesn’t use the Trial Work Period. Instead, your monthly SSI payment goes down gradually as your earnings go up (20 CFR 416.1112). Social Security generally ignores the first $65 you earn each month. It also ignores up to $20 more if that amount isn’t used up by other income. Then it counts only half of the rest. Payments stop once your countable income reaches the federal benefit rate, which is $994 a month for one person in 2026. Your Medicaid may continue after that under Section 1619(b) of the Social Security Act if you meet its rules.
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