Step 3: Meets or Equals a Listing

Listings cover major body systems

The listings describe medical criteria for impairments considered severe enough to prevent gainful activity. They are organized by body system and include musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, respiratory, neurological, mental, immune, digestive, cancer, and other conditions. A diagnosis by itself does not meet a listing.

Browse all SSA disability listing guidesMusculoskeletal listing guideMental disorders listing guideCardiovascular listing guide

Meeting every required criterion

To meet a listing, the medical evidence generally must satisfy all of the listing’s required criteria, including any rules in the body-system introduction and the applicable duration requirement. Being close to a criterion is not the same as meeting it. SSA evaluates the evidence and the specific wording of the listing.

What medical equivalence means

A condition may medically equal a listing if it is at least equal in severity and duration to the listing’s criteria. Equivalence may apply when an impairment is described in a listing but some findings differ, when it is not described by a listing, or when multiple impairments together are medically equivalent. SSA compares medical findings; it is not simply a way to substitute a diagnosis for missing criteria.

If no listing is met or equaled

Many claims continue because the evidence does not meet or equal a listing’s exact criteria. That does not mean the impairment is minor or that the claim is over. SSA assesses residual functional capacity (RFC) and moves to Step 4; some people are found disabled later at Step 5.

Related site resources

SSA disability listingsUnderstand RFC at Step 4All five evaluation stepsWhat should I do after a denial?

Official sources

• 20 CFR § 404.1525 — Listing of Impairments
• 20 CFR § 404.1526 — Medical equivalence
• 20 CFR § 404.1509 — Duration requirement