Your ability to earn is your biggest financial asset — yet most people protect their car and their house while leaving their income uninsured. If an illness or injury kept you from working for a year, could your household still pay the rent, the mortgage and the grocery bill?
This free calculator answers the one question that matters: how much monthly disability benefit do you actually need? Enter your income, your essential expenses and any cover you already have, and you will see your recommended benefit, your coverage gap, and a rough idea of what filling that gap typically costs.
How your number was worked out
The premium range is a rough planning figure (about 2–4% of the monthly benefit for an individual policy). Age, occupation, health, waiting period and benefit period move real quotes a lot.
How we estimate
This tool is deliberately simple and transparent. Every result follows the same three steps:
Step 1 — Target benefit = the higher of (60% of gross monthly income) and (essential monthly expenses), capped at 80% of gross income.
- 60% of income: the standard planning rule. Insurers typically replace 60–70% of gross income because benefits are usually tax-free, so 60% of gross pay is close to your old take-home pay.
- Essential expenses: if your must-pay bills (housing, food, utilities, insurance, debt minimums) run higher than 60% of your income, the target rises to cover them — a benefit that does not pay the bills is not enough.
- 80% cap: insurers cap combined benefits below full income so there is still a reason to return to work. No policy will replace 100% of your pay.
Step 2 — Coverage gap = target benefit − existing monthly cover. Existing cover means every monthly benefit you would already receive: an employer group policy (often 40–60% of salary), an individual policy, or expected SSDI. If your existing cover already meets the target, your gap is zero.
Step 3 — Typical premium range = roughly 2–4% of the monthly benefit. Individual disability premiums commonly run about 1–3% of annual income for full cover; expressed against the benefit itself that works out to roughly 2–4% per month. Younger, healthier workers in desk jobs pay less; older workers in physical jobs pay more.
One warning the numbers alone do not show: employer group cover usually ends when you leave the job, and SSDI claims take months and are frequently denied at first. An individual policy you own yourself is the only cover that follows you.
Frequently asked questions
How much disability insurance do I need?
A common planning rule is to replace about 60% of your gross monthly income, or enough to cover your essential monthly expenses — whichever is higher. Insurers typically cap total benefits at around 60–80% of your pre-disability income, so this calculator targets the higher of 60% of income and your expenses, capped at 80% of income.
What counts as existing disability cover?
Add up every monthly benefit you would already receive if you could not work: an employer group long-term disability policy, an individual policy you already own, and any Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) you expect to qualify for. The calculator subtracts this total from your target benefit to find your gap.
Why does the calculator cap the benefit at 80% of my income?
Disability insurers cap benefits below your full income on purpose: if a policy paid more than working did, there would be little reason to return to work. Most individual policies replace 60–70% of gross income, and combined benefits from all sources rarely exceed 80%.
How much does disability insurance cost?
A typical individual policy costs roughly 1–3% of your annual income, depending on your age, occupation, health, waiting period and benefit period. Group cover through an employer is usually cheaper but often replaces only 40–60% of salary and ends when you leave the job.
Keep reading: disability insurance guides
A number is a starting point — these guides help you turn it into real cover:
- Disability Insurance for the Self-Employed — costs, own-occupation definitions and waiting periods when there is no employer safety net.
- Income Protection Insurance in the UK — how income protection works in the UK, what it pays, and how it differs from US disability insurance.