Does Remote Work Count Toward My SSDI Eligibility Credits?

If you were recently diagnosed with a disabling injury or medical condition, you may be planning to apply for SSDI benefits. To be eligible, you will need to show — among other requirements — that you have worked long enough and recently enough to qualify. But does remote work count? In short, it does, but you should consider the following information from our national SSDI attorneys.

Understanding Work Credits and SSDI Eligibility 

In order to be eligible for SSDI benefits, you must meet two eligibility criteria: you must have a disability according to the strict definition used by the SSA, and you must have enough work credits based on your age. To understand the relationship between remote work and work credits, you will first need to understand what work credits are and how they are counted for SSDI eligibility purposes.

According to the SSA, the amount you need to earn one work credit changes each year. For 2025, you earn one work credit for every $1,810 you earn in wages or income. You are permitted to earn a maximum of four credits per year, which totals $7,240 in wages or income in 2025. To be eligible for SSDI benefits, you typically must have 40 work credits, and you must have earned 20 of them in the last 10 years. As the SSA explains, this is often known as the 20/40 rule. The work credit requirements are slightly different for younger workers, however. In general, younger workers can be eligible for SSDI with fewer work credits. The total number of credits required will depend on the SSDI applicant’s age.

Does Remote Work Affect SSDI Work Credits? 

If you typically worked remotely prior to your disability, or if you worked remotely during an extended period of time at some point in the last 10 years, you may be wondering if you still earned work credits during that time that you can count toward your SSDI eligibility.

According to data from the Pew Research Center, more than 22 million adults work remotely on a full-time basis, or about 14 percent of the employed population. More than 40 percent of American workers do at least some remote work on a regular basis because they have a “hybrid” work setup. In short, a very large portion of American workers are at least partially remote, and none of them need to worry that their working location affects their work credits. To be sure, you earn work credits whether you work from an office or from home (or another location), as long as your job is covered by Social Security. This includes self-employed workers.

Remote Jobs and Substantial Gainful Activity 

One of the only things you may need to consider with a remote job is whether your disability prevents you from engaging in substantial gainful activity or “SGA,” one of the components of a disability that is required to be eligible for SSDI benefits. If you work entirely remotely, you may need to be clear in the medical evidence you submit that your condition prevents you from engaging in SGA, including work that can be done entirely from your home.

Contact a National Disability Benefits Attorney 

Do you have questions about meeting the requirements for SSDI benefits or applying for payments? An experienced national SSDI benefits lawyer at the Law Offices of Stephen Barszcz can help. Contact us today for assistance with your SSDI application.

Sources:

ssa.gov/benefits/disability/qualify.html

pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/03/30/about-a-third-of-us-workers-who-can-work-from-home-do-so-all-the-time/