What Is OASDI? Old-Age, Survivors, & Disability Insurance

Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) is a core component of the United States’ social safety net. This program provides financial security for millions of Americans. It serves as a collective insurance system designed to offer protection against various life events that can impact an individual’s ability to earn income, providing a baseline of economic stability for eligible individuals and their families.

Defining Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance

OASDI is the official name for the Social Security program. The “Old-Age” component provides retirement benefits to eligible workers. “Survivors” benefits offer financial support to eligible family members of a deceased worker. The “Disability” aspect provides payments to individuals who are unable to work due to a severe medical condition that meets specific criteria. This program is designed to protect workers and their families from income loss resulting from retirement, death, or a qualifying disability.

How OASDI is Funded

The OASDI program receives its funding through payroll taxes, known as Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) taxes for most employees. Self-employed individuals contribute through the Self-Employment Contributions Act (SECA) taxes. For 2025, the OASDI tax rate is 6.2% for both employees and employers, resulting in a combined rate of 12.4% on earnings subject to the tax.

Self-employed individuals pay both the employer and employee portions, totaling 12.4% of their net earnings from self-employment for OASDI. These OASDI taxes are collected only up to an annual wage base limit, which for 2025 is $176,100. The funds collected through these payroll taxes are held in trust funds for Social Security benefits.

Benefits Provided by OASDI

The OASDI program provides three main categories of benefits. Old-Age benefits, or retirement benefits, are paid to eligible retired workers and their spouses or dependents. Individuals can begin receiving benefits as early as age 62, though receiving them before their full retirement age results in a reduced monthly amount. Full retirement age, which is 67 for those born in 1960 or later, allows individuals to receive 100% of their calculated benefit.

Survivors benefits are provided to eligible family members of a deceased worker. Eligible family members can include a surviving spouse, children, or dependent parents. For instance, a surviving spouse may be eligible if they are age 60 or older, or age 50-59 if they have a disability. Children may qualify if they are unmarried and under age 18, or under age 19 if still attending school full-time, or any age if they developed a disability before age 22.

Disability benefits are paid to workers who have a severe medical condition preventing them from engaging in substantial gainful activity, and this condition is expected to last for at least 12 months or result in death. To qualify for any of these benefits, individuals must have accumulated a certain number of “work credits” through their employment.

In 2025, one work credit is earned for each $1,810 in wages or self-employment income, up to a maximum of four credits per year. Retirement benefits require 40 credits (equivalent to 10 years of work). The number of credits needed for disability benefits can vary based on age. For example, workers aged 31 or older need 20 credits earned within the last 10 years before their disability began.