Life & Income Protection
Short-Term Disability Insurance Calculator
Benefit and premium estimates based on published consumer disability-insurance pricing data, updated August 2026.
See your weekly and monthly short-term disability benefit based on your income, elected benefit percentage, and benefit period, plus a typical premium estimate.
Data sourced from SimplyInsurance, Penn State HR
Estimated weekly disability benefit
$0
How this is calculated
Source: SimplyInsurance and Penn State HR published disability-insurance pricing data · Last updated 2026-08-21 · See how we calculate this →
How short-term disability insurance is priced
Short-term disability insurance replaces a portion of your income if an illness, injury, or condition (including a normal pregnancy and childbirth recovery, under most policies) keeps you from working for a period of weeks or months.
It is a separate product from sick leave, which is employer-provided paid time off, and from the federal FMLA, which only guarantees unpaid, job-protected leave rather than paying you anything.
Short-term disability insurance is the piece that actually replaces income during that gap, whether you get it through an employer group plan or buy an individual policy.
Three choices drive both your benefit and your premium. The elected benefit percentage, typically 50% to 70% of your income (some plans allow as low as 40%), determines how much of your paycheck the policy actually replaces while you are out; 60% is a common default.
The benefit period, commonly offered in 3, 6, 9, or 12-month tiers, caps how long the policy will keep paying for a single disability. And the elimination period, the waiting period between when your disability starts and when benefits begin, commonly runs 7 to 30 days, with 14 days being the most typical choice; a shorter elimination period costs more since the insurer is on the hook sooner.
On cost, short-term disability insurance typically runs about 1% to 3% of your annual salary per year, according to SimplyInsurance's disability-insurance pricing guide, though a small number of policies push that as high as 4%.
On a $50,000 salary, that works out to roughly $500 to $1,500 a year. The elimination period you choose meaningfully moves that number: published employer group-plan rate sheets (including Penn State's own HR benefits rate table) consistently show a 14-day elimination period costing about 50% more than a 30-day elimination period for the same weekly benefit amount, since the insurer starts paying out sooner and more often at the shorter waiting period.
This calculator estimates your premium as a percentage of income, scaled by how much benefit percentage you elected and which elimination period you chose, starting from that 1-3% published range.
It does not adjust for benefit period length specifically, since no published source breaks that variable out on its own separately from the elimination period, so treat the benefit-period choice as affecting how long you are covered rather than moving the estimated premium here.
As always, your actual premium depends on your age, occupation, health, and the specific carrier, so use this as a planning estimate, not a quote.
Frequently asked questions
How much of my income does short-term disability insurance actually replace?
Most policies replace somewhere between 50% and 70% of your income, with 60% being a common default. Some policies allow as little as 40%. You typically choose this percentage (and pay a premium based on it) when you enroll, either through an employer plan or an individual policy.
Why does my benefit period matter?
The benefit period is the maximum length of time the policy will pay out for a single covered disability, commonly 3, 6, 9, or 12 months. It only pays for as long as you remain disabled under the policy's definition, up to that maximum, it is not a lump sum you receive regardless of how long you are out.
What is an elimination period?
The elimination period is the waiting period between when your disability begins and when benefits start being paid, similar to a deductible but measured in days rather than dollars.
It commonly runs 7 to 30 days, with 14 days being the most typical. A shorter elimination period costs more since the insurer is taking on more risk of paying out for a brief absence.
Is short-term disability insurance the same as sick leave or FMLA?
No. Sick leave is employer-provided paid time off, usually limited and unrelated to insurance underwriting. FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act) only guarantees unpaid, job-protected leave, it does not pay you anything.
Short-term disability insurance is a separate benefit that actually replaces a portion of your income while you cannot work, whether purchased individually or offered through an employer.