[dbjacobs]

That's simply not true. If you did not pay into Social Security for at least 40 quarter, the only way you can get retirement Social Security is through marriage (spouse benefit or survivor benefit). You can qualify for both benefits even if you're divorced if you were married at least 10 years. I'm ignoring disability benefits for the moment.

For those who qualify for Social Security the minimum benefit for 2024 is $50.90/mo (10 yrs of work) and $1,066.50 for 30 years of work [1].

[1] - https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/ProgData/tableForm.html

[hollerith]

Most of my neighbors are considered disabled by the Social Security Administration and they all get at least $943 a month from the Administration -- even the ones who never had a paying job -- and when they get old enough (66 years and a few month in one recent case) they no longer have to prove that they are still disabled to continue to receive the income.

For what you write to be true, the Administration would have to have a rule that if you apply for disability income when you are of working age, you get enough to survive for life even if you paid nothing into the system (through FICA), but if you apply past the retirement age and you didn't pay into the system, you get basically nothing. I suppose that could be true (and I'm not going to search the web to try to find out) but it seems unlikely.

If you have a very strong work ethic, but have piss-poor ability to get paid a decent income and never applied for Social Security disability income, you've almost certainly worked some and consequently paid some amount into the system. When you get to retirement age, my strong guess (although I don't have personal knowledge) is that the SSI program kicks in such that the combination of your month Social Security retirement check and the SSI check adds up to $943 if you are single (plus $20 because the first $20 per month of non-SSI income is not counted) just like the millions of chronic schizophrenics that went on SSI in their 20s who never paid any FICA.

But if someone replies saying that they personally know an American with no other sources of income and no savings who has applied, but gets less than $943 a month from Social Security, I'll believe them.

ADDED. If you apply for disability or retirement benefits, the Administration automatically assesses whether you qualify for SSI benefits: one application suffices for both programs.