SSDI Work Credits: What South Dakota Workers Must Know

Social Security Disability Insurance is an earned benefit—not a handout. Before the Social Security Administration will consider your medical condition, they first ask a threshold question: have you worked long enough and recently enough to qualify? Work credits are the currency of that answer, and understanding how they accumulate can mean the difference between an approval and a denial before your case ever reaches a disability examiner.

How Work Credits Are Earned

The Social Security Administration uses a credit system tied directly to your earnings. In 2024, you earn one work credit for every $1,730 in covered wages or self-employment income. You can earn a maximum of four credits per year, regardless of how much you earn beyond that threshold. The dollar amount required per credit adjusts upward slightly each year to account for wage inflation.

Credits accumulate throughout your entire working life and never expire—they simply sit in your record. What does change is whether you have earned enough credits recently enough to be considered "insured" at the time your disability begins. This is where many South Dakota workers run into trouble, particularly those who left the workforce for extended periods due to farming cycles, caregiving responsibilities, or seasonal employment patterns common across the state.

The Two-Part Credit Requirement for SSDI Eligibility

SSDI imposes two separate credit thresholds that both must be satisfied:

• Total credits required: You generally need 40 lifetime work credits to qualify, which represents approximately 10 years of full-time covered employment.
• Recent work requirement: Of those 40 credits, 20 must have been earned in the 10 years immediately before your disability onset date—meaning within the last 40 quarters.

This two-part structure is what creates the concept of a Date Last Insured (DLI). Your DLI is the last date on which you satisfy both requirements simultaneously. If your disabling condition began—or can be medically documented to have begun—before your DLI, your claim proceeds. If not, SSDI benefits may be unavailable and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) becomes the alternative, which carries its own income and asset limitations.

Younger workers benefit from a scaled-down version of these rules. A worker who becomes disabled before age 31 needs far fewer total credits. For example, a 25-year-old only needs 6 credits (earned in the 3 years before disability), while a 28-year-old needs 10 credits. The SSA publishes a complete age-based chart, and identifying which rule applies to you is an essential early step in evaluating any claim.

Special Considerations for South Dakota Residents

South Dakota's economy includes significant agricultural, ranching, and seasonal tourism employment—all of which create irregular credit accumulation patterns. Self-employed farmers and ranchers must pay self-employment tax on net earnings to generate covered credits. Workers who operate at a loss for one or more years earn no credits for those years, even if they worked intensively throughout the season.

Tribal employees working for federally recognized tribes in South Dakota may have credits reported under different arrangements depending on the tribe's participation in Social Security coverage agreements. If you have worked in tribal employment, verify your earnings history carefully, as gaps sometimes appear in SSA records.

Additionally, some South Dakota state and local government employees hired before 1987 may have worked in non-covered positions, meaning those years generated no SSDI credits. Educators, law enforcement personnel, and certain municipal workers should pull their full Social Security earnings record to identify any uncredited years before assuming they are fully insured.

How to Check Your Current Credit Status

The SSA maintains a complete record of your earnings history, and you can access it in several ways:

• my Social Security online account: Visit ssa.gov and create or log into your account to view your full earnings record and estimated credit total.
• Social Security Statement: The SSA mails paper statements to workers who are not registered online. Statements are also available on request.
• Direct SSA contact: You can call 1-800-772-1213 or visit the SSA field office in Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Aberdeen, or other South Dakota locations to request a benefits verification letter that includes your DLI.

Review your earnings record carefully. Errors in reported wages are more common than most people expect. Employer reporting mistakes, name changes, or Social Security number discrepancies can cause legitimate earnings to go unposted to your record. You have the right to correct these errors with supporting documentation such as W-2 forms, tax returns, or pay stubs.

What Happens When You Don't Have Enough Credits

Falling short of the credit threshold does not mean you have no options. Supplemental Security Income is a needs-based program that provides disability benefits without any work history requirement. However, SSI requires that your countable assets remain below $2,000 (individuals) or $3,000 (couples), and your household income must fall within SSA limits. South Dakota does not currently pay a state supplement to SSI, so recipients receive only the federal base amount.

If you are close to your DLI but haven't yet filed, timing your application strategically matters. The SSA allows disability onset dates to be established retroactively up to 12 months before the application date for SSDI. If medical records support an onset before your DLI, an attorney can help build that evidentiary case even when your DLI has already passed.

Disabled adult children (DAC) represent another pathway. If you became disabled before age 22 and a parent is receiving Social Security retirement or disability benefits (or has died), you may qualify for benefits on their record with no work history of your own.

Understanding your credit status is the essential first step in any SSDI claim. Many South Dakota workers have worked hard for years only to discover a gap in their record that costs them eligibility. Identifying and correcting those gaps—or building a case around the correct onset date—requires careful attention to both the medical and administrative record.

Need Help? If you have questions about your case, call or text 833-657-4812 for a free consultation with an experienced attorney.

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