Countable resources are the assets you own that government benefit programs measure against a dollar limit to decide if you qualify. They include things like cash, bank accounts, stocks, bonds, and property you don’t live in. If your countable resources exceed the program’s threshold, you can lose eligibility for benefits like Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Medicaid, or SNAP (food stamps). The key distinction is that not everything you own counts. Certain essential assets, like your home and one vehicle, are excluded from the calculation.
How Countable Resources Work
The Social Security Administration defines a resource as anything you own that is money or can be turned into cash. Countable resources are the subset of those assets that actually get measured against the program’s limit. The logic is straightforward: the government wants to know whether you have savings or property you could sell to support yourself before it provides assistance.
For non-cash assets, the government uses your equity in the item to determine its value. That means the price the item could sell for on the open market in your area, minus anything you still owe on it. So if you own a second property worth $50,000 but still owe $45,000 on the mortgage, only $5,000 counts as a resource.
Common Examples of Countable Resources
The assets that typically count toward your resource limit include:
- Cash on hand
- Money in checking and savings accounts
- Stocks, bonds, and mutual funds
- A second vehicle you don’t use for transportation
- Real estate other than your primary home
- Life insurance policies with a combined face value over $1,500 (the cash surrender value becomes countable)
- Burial funds exceeding $1,500 per person
Essentially, if you could liquidate it and it isn’t specifically excluded by program rules, it’s probably countable.
What Doesn’t Count
Benefit programs exclude resources that are considered essential to daily life. For SSI, the major exclusions are:
- Your primary home and the land it sits on
- One vehicle used for transportation by you or your household
- Household goods and personal effects (furniture, clothing, appliances)
- Life insurance policies with a combined face value of $1,500 or less
- Burial plots or spaces for you and your immediate family
- Up to $1,500 in burial funds for you, and another $1,500 for your spouse
- Property used in a trade or business
- Up to $100,000 in an ABLE account (a savings account for people with disabilities)
If you’re blind or disabled, money set aside under a Plan to Achieve Self-Support (PASS) is also excluded. A PASS lets you save toward a specific work goal without those savings counting against you.
Resource Limits by Program
SSI
For Supplemental Security Income, your countable resources cannot exceed $2,000 if you’re an individual or $3,000 if you’re a couple. These limits have remained unchanged for decades and are not adjusted for inflation, which means they’ve become increasingly tight over time. Going even one dollar over the limit on the first of the month can make you ineligible for that month’s payment.
SNAP (Food Stamps)
For the period from October 2025 through September 2026, SNAP allows $3,000 in countable resources, or $4,500 if at least one household member is 60 or older or has a disability. SNAP excludes your home, retirement and pension plans, and the resources of anyone in your household already receiving SSI or TANF (welfare). Most states have adopted broad-based categorical eligibility, which can raise or eliminate the resource limit entirely depending on where you live.
Medicaid
Medicaid rules vary significantly by state and by the type of coverage. Programs that use income-based eligibility (called MAGI Medicaid) generally have no asset test at all. Non-MAGI Medicaid, which covers groups like people in long-term care facilities, does require reporting and proof of property such as vehicles, bank accounts, and rental homes, with limits on how much you can hold.
How Life Insurance and Burial Funds Are Counted
Life insurance and burial funds follow specific rules that trip people up. If the total face value of all life insurance policies on your life is $1,500 or less, the cash surrender value is completely excluded. Once the combined face value crosses that $1,500 line, the cash surrender value of those policies becomes a countable resource.
Burial funds get their own $1,500 exclusion per person. You and your spouse can each set aside up to $1,500 specifically designated for burial expenses without it counting. But these exclusions interact with each other. If you have a life insurance policy with a face value of $1,300, that amount reduces your $1,500 burial fund exclusion, leaving only $200 in additional burial funds you can hold without them counting. The math can get complicated when life insurance policies fund burial contracts, because the cash surrender value of the policy is treated as the resource value of the contract, subject to the $1,500 burial funds exclusion.
What Happens if You Go Over the Limit
Resource limits are checked on a specific date, typically the first day of each month. If your countable resources exceed the limit on that date, you’re ineligible for that month. This creates a situation where a temporary spike, like receiving a small inheritance or selling something, can cost you a month of benefits even if you spend the money quickly.
For SSI, the Social Security Administration may give you time to spend down excess resources if you can show the overage is temporary. But there’s no guarantee, and repeated violations can lead to suspension of benefits. Transferring or giving away assets to get below the limit can also trigger penalties, particularly in Medicaid’s long-term care programs, which look back at financial transactions made in the years before you applied.
If you’re close to the resource limit, an ABLE account can provide meaningful breathing room. These state-run savings accounts let eligible individuals with disabilities hold up to $100,000 without it counting toward the SSI resource limit. The funds can be used for disability-related expenses including housing, education, transportation, and healthcare.