SSI: characteristics of persons receiving federally administered State supplementation only

This article summarizes the demographic and economic characteristics of the half million persons on the rolls of the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program in January 1981 whose only payment was a federally administered State supplement. All of these persons were ineligible for a Federal SSI payment because their countable income from other sources exceeded $258 (the Federal benefit rate plus the $20 Federal income disregard). The data indicate that 62 percent of these persons resided in California; nearly 75 percent were aged 65 or older; 81 percent were white; and 65 percent were women. Almost all of these persons received a monthly Social Security benefit, which averaged $286. The average monthly State supplementary payment for the members of this group was $84.