Social Security Spousal Benefits: How Much a Spouse Gets and When

Picture a couple where one partner earned most of the paycheck for 35 years. At full retirement age, that worker’s Social Security benefit is $2,400 a month.

The other partner, who stayed home or worked part time, can collect up to $1,200 a month on the worker’s record. That $1,200 does not come out of the worker’s check.

That is how Social Security spousal benefits work. A husband, wife or qualifying ex-spouse can get up to half of the worker’s full benefit. The catch is timing: start before your own full retirement age and the payment shrinks for life, sometimes to less than a third of the worker’s amount.

Below you will find the exact reduction SSA applies, worked examples, the rules for divorced spouses and for spouses caring for a child, the end of the government pension offset, and the 2027 figures. Every rule comes from the Social Security Administration or the federal rules in 20 CFR Part 404.

Key Takeaways

• A spouse can get up to 50% of the worker’s primary insurance amount (PIA), the benefit the worker would get at full retirement age. Delayed credits the worker earns after that do not raise the spousal amount.
• For anyone born in 1960 or later, starting at 62 cuts the spousal benefit by 35%, to 32.5% of the worker’s PIA. Waiting until 67 gets the full 50%.
• The worker generally has to be collecting retirement or disability benefits first. A divorced spouse can skip that rule after being divorced for 2 years, if the ex is at least 62.
• If you have your own work record, SSA pays your own benefit first and adds only the difference. You cannot pick one and let the other grow.
• The government pension offset no longer applies to benefits for January 2024 and later, so retired teachers and other public workers who were cut off may now qualify.

How much are Social Security spousal benefits?

The spousal benefit is up to one-half of the worker’s primary insurance amount. SSA’s own wording is that you “could get up to half of the benefit amount your family member would get at their Full Retirement Age.” You get the full half only if you wait until your own full retirement age to start.

The federal rule at 20 CFR 404.333 sets the base the same way: a wife’s or husband’s monthly benefit “is equal to one-half the insured person’s primary insurance amount.” The PIA is the worker’s benefit at full retirement age, before any early cut or delay bonus.

Two details trip people up. First, the 50% is figured on the worker’s PIA, not on whatever check the worker actually receives. If the worker claimed early at 62 and gets a reduced check, your spousal amount is still based on the full PIA.

Second, if the worker waited until 70 and earned delayed retirement credits, those credits do not flow to you. SSA puts it plainly: “your maximum spouse’s benefit remains 50% of their full retirement age benefit, not their higher amount including delayed retirement credits.”

The spousal payment is also extra money for the household. SSA states that “payments to family members do not decrease your spouse’s retirement or disability benefit.” The worker’s check stays the same whether you claim or not, subject to the family maximum covered further down.

For the highest earners, the ceiling in 2027 is easy to estimate. SSA’s 2027 fact sheet lists $4,188 a month as the maximum for a worker retiring at full retirement age. Half of that is $2,094, the most a spouse could receive at full retirement age on that kind of record.

Who qualifies for Social Security spousal benefits?

You can qualify as a current spouse if you have been married at least one year and you are age 62 or older, or you are caring for the worker’s child who is under 16 or has a disability. Those three tests come straight from SSA’s Family benefits eligibility page.

The one-year marriage rule and its exceptions

Under 20 CFR 404.330, the marriage must have lasted at least one year. You count as meeting the year for the whole month in which your first anniversary falls. Two exceptions let a newer spouse qualify sooner.

• You and the worker are the natural parents of a child.
• In the month before the wedding, you were entitled to (or could have been entitled to) certain other Social Security benefits, such as widow’s, widower’s, parent’s or disabled child’s benefits.

You do not need your own work history

A spouse who never worked under Social Security can still collect. The benefit is based entirely on the worker’s earnings record. SSA also notes that you might get Medicare on your family member’s record once you reach 65, which matters if you have too few work credits for premium-free Part A.

Spouses of disabled workers count too

The worker does not have to be retired. The rule covers the spouse of an insured person “who is entitled to old-age or disability benefits.” If your husband or wife receives SSDI, you may qualify on that record under the same age and child-in-care tests.

This does not apply to SSI, which is a needs-based program with its own couple rate. Our guide to SSI vs SSDI explains the difference if you are not sure which one the worker gets.

Does my spouse have to file before I can collect?

Yes, for current spouses. SSA says “your spouse must be receiving benefits for you to get benefits on their work record.” If the worker has not applied for retirement or disability benefits, you have to wait, even if you are already 62 or older.

That rule can create a standoff. A worker who plans to wait until 70 for the bigger delayed check also delays the spouse’s start date. Couples in that spot should weigh how many years of spousal payments they give up against the worker’s larger lifetime check.

Pausing the worker’s benefit does not help either. Since April 30, 2016, when a worker voluntarily suspends retirement payments, “other benefits payable on your record, such as benefits to your spouse, are also suspended,” according to SSA’s filing rules page.

Divorced spouses are the exception to both points. An ex-spouse can collect even if the worker never filed, as long as the worker is at least 62 and the divorce is at least 2 years old. A divorced spouse’s payment also continues if the ex suspends. Both rules are covered in the divorced section below.

How much smaller is the spousal benefit if you claim at 62?

Claiming before your own full retirement age cuts the spousal benefit permanently. SSA reduces it by 25/36 of 1% for each of the first 36 months early, then 5/12 of 1% for each month beyond 36. The SSA actuary’s page says the result can be “as little as 32.5 percent” of the worker’s PIA.

That is a steeper cut than the worker faces on their own record. Someone born in 1960 or later who starts retirement benefits at 62 loses 30%. A spouse of the same age loses 35% of the spousal amount, because the second tier of monthly cuts is applied to a smaller base.

Spousal reduction table for people born 1960 or later

Anyone turning 62 now was born in 1960 or later, so their full retirement age is 67. We applied SSA’s monthly formula to a worker PIA of $2,000 to show the dollar effect at each birthday.

Age you start	Months before 67	Reduction	Share of worker’s PIA	On a $2,000 PIA
62	60	35.00%	32.5%	$650
63	48	30.00%	35.0%	$700
64	36	25.00%	37.5%	$750
65	24	16.67%	41.7%	about $833
66	12	8.33%	45.8%	about $916
67	0	None	50.0%	$1,000

Here is the math for age 62. The first 36 months cost 36 times 25/36 of 1%, which is 25%. The other 24 months cost 24 times 5/12 of 1%, which is 10%. The total cut is 35%, and 65% of a 50% base leaves 32.5% of the worker’s PIA.

SSA’s own example checks out the same way. With a worker PIA of $1,600, a spouse who starts 36 months early gets 75% of $800, or $600. That is 37.5% of the PIA, matching the age 64 row above.

If you were born before 1960

SSA’s retirement age chart shows a smaller cut at 62 for older birth years: 30.00% for 1943 to 1954, rising in steps to 34.17% for 1959. In practice, nearly everyone born in 1959 or earlier reaches full retirement age by the end of 2026, so a spouse in that group who files now gets the full 50%.

One quirk applies to every birth year. If you were born on the 1st of a month, SSA figures your benefit as if your birthday fell in the previous month. A January 1 birthday counts as December of the year before.

What if you also have your own Social Security benefit?

SSA always pays your own retirement benefit first. If half of the worker’s PIA is larger than your own PIA, SSA adds the difference, called the spousal excess, so your total equals the higher amount. If your own PIA is equal to or larger than half of the worker’s, no spousal benefit is paid at all.

SSA’s own example: Sandy has a $1,000 retirement benefit of her own and a $1,250 spousal benefit. At full retirement age she gets her $1,000 plus $250 from the spousal side, for $1,250 total. She never gets $2,250, because SSA states it does not add the payment amounts together.

Deemed filing: why you cannot choose one benefit

Under the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, anyone who turned 62 on or after January 2, 2016 (born January 2, 1954 or later) is “deemed” to apply for both benefits when they apply for either one. SSA’s answer on this is a flat no to filing only for the spousal amount while your own benefit grows.

For people born in that range, deemed filing applies at 62 and continues at full retirement age and beyond. The older strategy of collecting spousal benefits at 66 while letting your own benefit build to 70 is closed to everyone now reaching retirement age.

Deemed filing has three exceptions. It does not apply to survivor benefits, it does not apply if you get spouse’s benefits while entitled to disability, and it does not apply while you receive spousal benefits because you care for the worker’s child.

How the reductions stack when you claim early

When both benefits start early, SSA reduces each piece on its own schedule. POMS RS 00615.020 describes the method for spouses: subtract your full PIA from the full spousal amount, reduce that excess for age, then add your own reduced retirement benefit.

Here is a worked case using SSA’s percentages for someone born in 1960 or later. The worker’s PIA is $2,400, so the full spousal amount is $1,200. The spouse’s own PIA is $800, which leaves a $400 excess.

Piece	Start at 67	Start at 62
Own retirement benefit ($800 PIA)	$800	$560 (30% cut)
Spousal excess ($400)	$400	$260 (35% cut)
Total monthly payment	$1,200	$820

Starting at 62 costs this spouse $380 a month for life. Over a year, that is $4,560 less, and the gap grows with each annual cost-of-living raise because every COLA is a percentage of the smaller check.

Now change one number. If the spouse’s own PIA were $1,300, it would already exceed the $1,200 spousal amount, and under 20 CFR 404.330(d) no spousal benefit would be payable. Many two-earner couples fall into this group.

Can a divorced spouse collect on an ex’s record?

Yes, if the marriage lasted at least 10 years, you are unmarried, and you are 62 or older. The amount follows the same 50% rule and the same early reductions as for current spouses. Your ex does not need to know or agree, and your claim does not lower your ex’s check.

The federal rule at 20 CFR 404.331 lists the requirements. You must have been married to the worker “for at least 10 years immediately before your divorce became final,” you must apply, you must not be married, and you must be 62 or older. As with current spouses, your own PIA must be smaller than half of the ex’s.

How SSA counts the 10 years

The test is met if the divorce became final on or after your 10th wedding anniversary. A decree dated even a few days before that anniversary fails the test, so check the date on the final decree before you file.

Couples who divorced and remarried each other can sometimes combine the two marriages. SSA counts them as one “if you remarried no later than the calendar year after the year the divorce became final.”

The 2-year rule if your ex has not filed

Current spouses have to wait for the worker to file. Divorced spouses do not, under what SSA calls independent entitlement. You can collect on your ex’s record before they apply if the ex is at least 62 and fully insured and you have been divorced for at least 2 continuous years.

If your ex is already receiving benefits, the 2-year wait does not apply. In that case you can file as soon as you meet the age, marriage length and unmarried tests.

What remarriage does to the benefit

If you remarry, your divorced-spouse benefit generally ends. Under 20 CFR 404.332, an exception applies if your new spouse is someone already entitled to certain Social Security benefits, such as a widow’s or widower’s benefit. If your ex remarries, nothing changes for you.

More than one former spouse can qualify on the same worker’s record. SSA says payments to ex-spouses “don’t count toward the family maximum,” so a former spouse’s claim never reduces what the current spouse or children receive.

If your ex has died, a different and often larger benefit applies. Surviving divorced spouses follow survivor rules, which we point to in the last section of this guide.

Can a younger spouse get benefits while caring for a child?

Yes. A spouse of any age can collect while caring for the worker’s child who is under 16 or has a disability, as long as the child is entitled to benefits on the worker’s record. The SSA actuary’s page adds that in this case “the spousal benefit is not reduced,” so you receive the full 50% even in your 30s or 40s.

This payment stops when the reason for it ends. Under 20 CFR 404.332, a spouse under 62 loses entitlement once there is no longer an entitled child of the worker who is under 16 or disabled. A child’s 16th birthday is the usual end point.

If you are 62 or older by then, you can apply again as an age-based spouse, with the normal early reduction. Child-in-care spouses are also outside deemed filing, so their own retirement benefit is not forced to start while the child-in-care payment runs.

How the family maximum limits the check

A worker’s record can only pay so much in total to the worker, spouse and children. SSA’s 2027 family maximum formula is 150% of the first $1,712 of PIA, plus 272% of PIA from $1,712 to $2,471, plus 134% from $2,471 to $3,223, plus 175% above that.

Take a worker who turns 62 in 2027 with a $2,400 PIA. The cap works out to $2,568 plus $1,871.36, or $4,439.30 after SSA rounds down to the dime. After the worker’s own $2,400, about $2,039 is left for family members.

A spouse and one child would each be due $1,200, or $2,400 together. That exceeds the room left, so SSA lowers both in proportion, to about $1,019 each. The worker’s own check is never cut to make room.

Do Social Security spousal benefits grow if you wait past full retirement age?

No. Spousal benefits stop growing at your full retirement age. Your own retirement benefit earns delayed retirement credits of 8% a year up to 70 if you were born in 1943 or later, but the spousal piece has no such bonus. Waiting past 67 only makes sense for the part of your income that comes from your own record.

The worker’s delay does not help the spouse either. The federal rule at 20 CFR 404.313 says SSA does “not use your delayed retirement credits to increase the benefits of other family members entitled on your earnings record.”

The worker’s delay does matter later, though. SSA notes that a surviving spouse’s benefit is based on the worker’s higher amount including delayed credits. For many couples, that is the strongest argument for the higher earner to wait.

Will working reduce my spousal benefit?

It can, if you are under full retirement age. The 2027 retirement earnings test withholds $1 for every $2 you earn above $25,560 a year. In the year you reach full retirement age, SSA withholds $1 for every $3 above $67,920, counting only earnings in the months before you reach that age.

The worker’s earnings matter too. An SSA research note explains that the earnings test “also affects a retired worker’s auxiliary beneficiaries, such as a spouse or child.” If the worker is under full retirement age and over the limit, the withholding can reduce the household’s combined benefits, including yours.

Your own earnings, on the other hand, only affect your own payment. For most spouses, withheld money is not lost. SSA recalculates at full retirement age to credit the months that were withheld.

Child-in-care spouses are the exception. SSA’s How Work Affects Your Benefits booklet says spouses who receive benefits because they have minor or disabled children in their care “don’t receive increased benefits at full retirement age if benefits were withheld because of work.”

Does a government pension still reduce spousal benefits?

No, not for benefits paid for January 2024 or later. The Social Security Fairness Act, signed on January 5, 2025, ended the government pension offset (GPO). SSA says “December 2023 is the last month that WEP and GPO will apply.”

The GPO reduced or eliminated spouse’s benefits for people with a pension from work where they did not pay Social Security tax. SSA names teachers, firefighters and police officers in many states, and federal employees under the Civil Service Retirement System, among the groups the new law helps.

SSA’s Fairness Act page says that by July 7, 2025 it had sent over 3.1 million payments totaling $17 billion to people eligible under the law. Most people already on the rolls did not need to do anything.

If you never applied for spousal benefits because the GPO would have erased them, you may need to file now. SSA warns that the usual rules still apply, including early-claiming reductions.

SSA also notes that retroactive pay for many claims is generally limited to six months before the month you apply, so waiting can cost money.

How much will Social Security spousal benefits pay in 2027?

Spousal benefits rise with the 3.6% cost-of-living adjustment for 2027, like every other Social Security benefit. SSA’s 2027 fact sheet estimates the average aged couple with both members receiving benefits goes from $3,238 to $3,355 a month in January 2027.

Using the earlier example, a spouse collecting the full $1,200 in December 2026 would see about $43 more a month after the 3.6% raise. Our 2027 Social Security COLA guide covers the raise in detail, and the COLA calculator runs the math on your own check.

The first payment with the new amount arrives in January 2027 for most people. Payment dates for a spouse follow the same calendar as the worker’s, which you can check on our Social Security payment schedule.

Medicare can take part of the raise. If you are 65 or older and enrolled in Part B, the premium is usually deducted from your Social Security check, so a higher Part B premium can absorb some of the COLA. See our Medicare program guide for how coverage on a spouse’s record works.

How do you apply for spousal benefits?

You can apply online once you are 61 and 9 months old (within 3 months of 62), by phone at 1-800-772-1213, or at a local Social Security office. Online, SSA routes spousal claims through the retirement application, so choosing “Family Benefits” opens the retirement and Medicare form.

1. Check the estimate first. If you and your spouse both have a my Social Security account, you can see an estimate of the benefit you could get on your spouse’s record.
2. Confirm the worker has filed. Current spouses cannot be paid until the worker is receiving retirement or disability benefits.
3. Gather documents. SSA’s Form SSA-2 checklist lists your birth certificate, your marriage certificate, a final divorce decree if you are a divorced spouse, and last year’s W-2 or self-employment return.
4. Know the worker’s details. Have your spouse’s or ex-spouse’s Social Security number ready. If you do not have an ex’s number, SSA will ask for other details such as their date of birth and parents’ names.
5. Pick your start month. Decide whether to start now with a reduction or wait for full retirement age, using the table above.

Do not hold back an application because one document is missing. SSA says it will help you get it. It also needs to see originals of most papers, such as a birth certificate, and it mails them back. If your own card is lost, see how to replace a Social Security card.

What happens to a spousal benefit when the worker dies?

The spousal benefit ends when the worker dies, under 20 CFR 404.332. In its place, you may qualify for a widow’s or widower’s benefit, which is figured differently and is often larger. That benefit has its own age rules, reductions and remarriage rules.

We cover all of them in our separate guide to Social Security survivor benefits, including the one-time death payment and how surviving divorced spouses qualify. Report the death to SSA promptly so the switch happens without a gap.

Related reading

• How to apply for SSDI
• How SSDI work credits are earned
• Medicare Part B premium and how it is deducted
• SSI program guide