I have stopped disability and went back to work after 6 years. Will my SS benefits go up after working 3 more years?

Hi. I don't have enough information to be able to give you an answer. Social Security disability (SSDI) benefits can be calculated based on an average of as few as 2 years of a person's earnings or as many as 35 years of earnings depending upon their age at the time they became disabled. Subsequent earnings can only increase the person's benefit rate if the yearly earnings amounts are high enough to raise their average earnings in the years used to calculate their benefit rate.

If your SSDI benefits have been terminated, your future Social Security retirement benefit rate will be based on a modified formula. Normally, Social Security retirement benefits are calculated based on an average of a person's highest 35 years of Social Security wage indexed earnings. But, fewer years are used if a person previously received SSDI benefits. Basically, 1 fewer year is used for each year of previous SSDI entitlement.

Therefore, your future Social Security retirement benefit rate will depend on your average earnings in the number of computational years that applies in your individual case. Whether or not that will increase your benefit rate depends on how your average earnings in your future benefit calculation compares with the average earnings amount on which your SSDI rate was based.

Best, Jerry