New York pays SSI recipients who live alone a state supplement of $87 a month on top of the federal payment. With the 2026 federal rate of $994, that brings the maximum monthly benefit for a single person living alone to $1,081, according to the state’s Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance.
The $87 is one line on a chart that pays different amounts by living arrangement. The same chart lists $23 for people living with others. OTDA revised it on October 27, 2025 to reflect the 2.8 percent federal cost-of-living increase that took effect in January 2026.
Anyone in New York on SSI who lives alone should see the $87 added to the federal payment, within that $1,081 ceiling. A recipient who shares a home is on a lower line, so a change in who lives in the household can change the state part of the check. The chart lists maximums, which means other income can still lower what an individual receives.
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How the $1,081 adds up
The figures come from OTDA’s 2026 SSI and SSP maximum monthly benefit chart. For an individual living alone, the federal amount is $994, the state supplement is $87, and the total is $1,081. For a couple living alone, the federal amount is $1,491, the state supplement is $104, and the total is $1,595.
The chart cites Chapter 56 of the Laws of 2025 as its statutory reference. It also lists the resource limits that apply alongside the money: $2,000 in countable resources for an individual and $3,000 for a couple.
State money rides on top of whatever the federal check turns out to be. Social Security’s guide to SSI income works one example with a $15 state supplement for someone living alone: a $300 Social Security benefit leaves a federal SSI check of $714, and the supplement brings the total to $729. The same guide shows a worker with $317 in wages getting an $878 federal check, or $893 with the supplement.
The chart also carries a line labeled “see next page,” which pays the $994 federal amount and no state supplement. Its footnotes list the cases where no supplement is paid.
The lines for people who share a home
The next line down is “living with others.” There the individual gets the same $994 federal amount and a $23 state supplement, for a total of $1,017. A couple in that category gets $1,491 federal and $46 state, for $1,537.
A third line applies to “living in the household of another.” The federal amount is lower there, $662.67 for an individual and $994 for a couple, because Social Security reduces the federal check by one-third in that arrangement. The state adds $23 for an individual, so the total is $685.67, and $46 for a couple, for $1,040.
Group settings pay more
The chart’s highest state amounts go to recipients in congregate care, which it splits into three levels. Level 1, family care, pays a state supplement of $266.48 a month in New York City, Nassau, Rockland, Suffolk and Westchester counties and $228.48 in the rest of the state. Level 2, residential care, pays $435 in those same counties and $405 elsewhere. Level 3, enhanced residential care, pays $694.
Couples in these settings get far larger state amounts. For a couple in Level 1 the state supplement is $1,029.96 in the five counties and $953.96 elsewhere, in Level 2 it is $1,367 and $1,307, and in Level 3 it is $1,885, for a combined total of $3,376. The chart also lists personal needs allowances for these settings, with minimums of $191 for Level 1, $219 for Level 2 and $262 for Level 3. Each of those rows pairs with the $994 federal amount. The Level 1 total in the five counties, for example, is $1,260.48, and the Level 3 total is $1,688. The chart separately lists a $30 federal amount for people in Medicaid-certified institutions.
The 2026 label and the 2027 federal rate
Every figure above belongs to 2026, and every one is a monthly maximum. The $87 belongs to the living-alone line only. OTDA revised the chart on October 27, 2025, and the federal amounts in it already include the 2.8 percent increase. The federal part rises next year: Social Security’s 2027 fact sheet lists the SSI payment standard at $1,029 for an individual and $1,544 for a couple after a 3.6 percent cost-of-living adjustment. The OTDA chart carries 2026 amounts, so the $87 and the $1,081 should be read as this year’s figures.
New York is one of many states that add money to SSI. Across the country, Social Security’s SSI annual report counted about 1.3 million people receiving a state supplement in January 2026, averaging $212. The report’s figures cover every state that supplements SSI, and which line applies in New York depends on where and with whom a recipient lives.
Living alone in New York on SSI?
The $87 is New York’s piece of the check. The federal piece underneath it, $994 in 2026, is the part that changes with income, savings and living arrangements, and a recipient who moves or takes in a roommate can land on a different line of the state chart.
That is the turn from the state money to the federal rules, and it is where The SSI & Disability Action Kit picks up. It sets out the 2026 SSI income and resource limits and the review and reporting steps behind the federal payment.
Part 4 covers working without losing benefits, and Part 8 has worksheets, contacts and a deadline calendar.
Get the 2026 SSI income and resource limits in the SSI & Disability Action Kit →
More Financial Reading
- 21 Ways to Stretch a $2,087 Social Security Check
- 15 Places to Find Your Share of the $4.25 Billion States Give Back
- 21 Ways Retirees Can Raise $1,000 Fast Without a Job
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
