Social Security spousal benefits: who qualifies and how much they pay

Key points

• A spousal benefit pays up to 50% of the worker’s primary insurance amount (PIA), the worker’s benefit at full retirement age. You get the full 50% only if you start it at your own full retirement age.
• You qualify if the worker is getting retirement or disability benefits, you have generally been married at least one year, and you are 62 or older or caring for the worker’s child who is under 16 or disabled.
• Starting early cuts it for good: at 62, with a full retirement age of 67, it is 32.5% of the worker’s PIA. Waiting past full retirement age adds nothing.
• If you have your own benefit too, Social Security pays yours first and adds only the difference. If you were born on January 2, 1954 or later, applying for either benefit counts as applying for both.

A spousal benefit is a monthly Social Security payment based on your husband’s or wife’s work record instead of your own. Social Security calls it a spouse’s benefit and files it under Family benefits. Our Social Security guide covers the whole system. This guide covers a current husband or wife. Ex-spouses have their own rules, in our guide to divorced spouse Social Security.

These are federal rules. We checked every rule and figure against the Social Security Act, the Code of Federal Regulations and Social Security Administration (SSA) handbooks, manuals and pages on October 27, 2026. They are listed at the end. You can rerun the linked examples in our Social Security calculator.

Who qualifies for Social Security spousal benefits?

You can get a spouse’s benefit on your husband’s or wife’s record if all of these are true:

• The worker is entitled to retirement or disability benefits. In plain terms, the worker has applied. Until then there is no spouse’s benefit on that record, however old you are. SSA puts it simply: “Your spouse must be receiving benefits for you to get benefits on their work record.”
• You have been married at least one year when you apply. The law counts the year back from the day you apply, and you meet it for the whole month of your first anniversary. The year is waived if you and the worker are the parents of a child together, or if in the month before the marriage you were entitled to, or could have been entitled to, certain Social Security benefits, such as a widow’s, widower’s or parent’s benefit.
• You are 62 or older, or you have a child in your care. The child must be the worker’s child, under 16 or disabled, and entitled to child’s benefits on the worker’s record. Age 62 means 62 for a whole month: the regulation requires you to be “age 62 or older throughout a month”.
• Your own benefit is smaller. If you are entitled to your own retirement or disability benefit based on a PIA equal to or larger than half the worker’s PIA, there is no spouse’s benefit to pay.
• You apply. The exceptions are covered under deemed filing below.

How much is the spousal benefit?

The full spouse’s benefit is one-half of the worker’s PIA. It is figured on the PIA, not on the check the worker actually gets, so a worker who claimed early at a reduced rate does not shrink it, and a worker who waits past full retirement age does not raise it.

Three things can make your payment smaller than half the PIA:

1. Starting before your own full retirement age. The cut is 25/36 of 1% for each of the first 36 months early and 5/12 of 1% for each month beyond 36. It is permanent: SSA says that if you start early, “your payment will be permanently reduced.”
2. Having your own retirement benefit. Only the difference is paid as a spouse’s benefit (next section).
3. The family maximum, when children also draw on the worker’s record (see other rules below).

Full retirement age is 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later, so a spouse can start at most 60 months early. SSA’s own table puts a spouse who starts at 62 at a 35% cut, which leaves 32.5% of the worker’s PIA. Here is the full range for a worker PIA of $2,400, assuming the worker has already filed:

Spouse starts at	Months early	Share of the worker’s PIA	Monthly
62	60	32.5%	$780
63	48	35%	$840
64	36	37.5%	$900
65	24	41.67%	$1,000
66	12	45.83%	$1,100
67	0	50%	$1,200
70	none	50%	$1,200

These are amounts before cost-of-living increases. Run the 62 row in the calculator, then change the spouse’s claiming age to see the others.

Each row assumes the benefit starts in the month of that birthday. At 62 that works only for someone born on the 2nd of a month, because you must be 62 for the whole month. For anyone else, the first month at 62 is 59 months early, which leaves 32.71% of the worker’s PIA ($785 here). Our guide to claiming at 62 explains the timing. The calculator’s age-62 figures, and the examples below, assume a birthday on the 2nd.

How your own benefit and the spousal benefit combine

Social Security does not add the two benefits together. It pays your own retirement benefit first. If the spouse’s benefit is higher, it adds the difference, which SSA’s manuals call the excess spouse’s benefit. In SSA’s words, “you will get a combination of benefits that equals the higher spouse’s benefit.”

SSA’s own example: a retirement benefit of $1,000 and a spouse’s benefit of $1,250, both at full retirement age, pay $1,000 plus $250, so $1,250 a month.

Before full retirement age, each part is cut on its own schedule:

• Your own benefit at the retirement rate: 5/9 of 1% for each of the first 36 months early, 5/12 of 1% beyond. At 62 with a full retirement age of 67, it pays 70% of your own PIA.
• The excess, half the worker’s PIA minus your own PIA, at the spouse rate, but only for the months of spouse entitlement before your full retirement age.

Two results follow. If both parts start the same month before full retirement age, both are reduced (Example 3 below). If you took your own benefit early and the worker files years later, your own benefit stays reduced for good, even when the excess starts at your full retirement age with no cut (Example 4).

Deemed filing: applying for one benefit means applying for both

If you were born on January 2, 1954 or later and you are eligible for both your own retirement benefit and a spouse’s benefit, applying for either one counts as applying for both. SSA calls this deemed filing. It applies at any age, including after full retirement age, so you cannot take the spouse’s benefit and leave your own to grow with delayed credits.

It also works forward in time. If you are already getting your own benefit when the worker files, you are treated as having applied for the spouse’s top-up from the first month you are eligible for it.

Three exceptions:

• A child in your care. If you get a spouse’s benefit because you care for the worker’s child, you are not deemed to have filed for your own retirement benefit.
• Disability. Deemed filing does not apply if you get spouse’s benefits and are entitled to disability benefits.
• Survivor benefits. Deemed filing covers retirement and spouse’s benefits only. A widow or widower can start the survivor benefit and leave their own retirement benefit to grow. Our survivor benefits guide covers that choice.

People born before January 2, 1954 had a narrower rule that applied only before full retirement age. All of them are now past 70.

Does waiting past full retirement age raise a spousal benefit?

No. The spouse’s benefit stops growing at your full retirement age. Delayed retirement credits, the 8% a year a worker earns by waiting past full retirement age to 70, belong to the worker’s own retirement benefit only. The spouse rows in the table above stay at 50% from 67 to 70 for that reason.

The worker’s delayed credits do not raise the spouse’s benefit either. The regulation is direct: “We do not use your delayed retirement credits to increase the benefits of other family members entitled on your earnings record.” SSA’s blog adds that the spouse’s maximum “remains 50% of their full retirement age benefit, not their higher amount including delayed retirement credits.”

The worker’s delay does matter in two other ways:

• Timing. The spouse’s benefit cannot start until the worker files. A spouse with no work record gets nothing on that record while the worker waits.
• Survivors. The worker’s delayed credits do count toward the benefit a widow or widower can get after the worker dies. See our survivor benefits guide, and our guide to delaying Social Security for the credits themselves.

Spousal benefits while caring for a child

A spouse of any age can qualify while caring for the worker’s child who is under 16, or disabled, and entitled to child’s benefits on the worker’s record. Three rules differ from the age-62 benefit:

• No reduction for age. A spouse’s benefit is not reduced for any month you have such a child in your care.
• No deemed filing for your own retirement benefit, as above.
• It ends with the care. If you are under 62, the benefit ends when there is no longer a child of the worker under 16 or disabled and entitled to child’s benefits. If you are between 62 and full retirement age by then, the payments are suspended unless you elect a reduced spouse’s benefit. From full retirement age, it converts to a regular spouse’s benefit.

Does the Government Pension Offset still reduce spousal benefits?

No. The Government Pension Offset (GPO) used to reduce or wipe out spouse’s and surviving spouse’s benefits for people with a government pension from work that did not pay Social Security taxes. The Social Security Fairness Act, Public Law 118-273, signed on January 5, 2025, repealed it for benefits payable for months after December 2023. SSA: “December 2023 is the last month that WEP and GPO will apply.”

If you never applied for a spouse’s benefit because of the GPO, SSA says you need to file an application. The Act did not change the rules on how far back an application can be paid. Our Social Security Fairness Act guide has the details.

Other rules that can change a spousal benefit

• The family maximum. There is a limit on the total paid to a family on one record. If needed, payments for the spouse and children are lowered to fit. The worker’s own benefit is not cut: SSA says “Payments to family members do not decrease your spouse’s retirement or disability benefit.”
• The earnings test. A spouse’s benefit can be withheld under the earnings test because of your own work or because of the worker’s work. Our earnings limit guide has the limits and the ages they apply to.
• The worker suspends. If the worker voluntarily suspends benefits to earn delayed credits, benefits to the spouse are suspended too. See suspending Social Security.
• Divorce. A spouse’s benefit ends at divorce unless you had already turned 62 when the divorce became final and the marriage lasted at least 10 years. Then you continue as a divorced spouse.
• The worker dies. The spouse’s benefit ends, and you may qualify for a widow’s or widower’s benefit instead.

To apply, SSA notes that choosing Family Benefits online takes you to the retirement application, so that you are considered for every benefit you can get. Our guide to applying for Social Security retirement walks through it.

Worked examples

In all five, the worker was born in 1960, has a full retirement age of 67 and a PIA of $2,400. Amounts are in today’s dollars.

Example 1: a spouse with no work record. The worker files at 67. The spouse was born in 1965 (full retirement age 67) and has no benefit of their own.

• Starting at 62, 60 months early: $1,200 cut by 35% is $780 a month, 32.5% of the worker’s PIA.
• Starting at 67: the full $1,200.

Run the 62 case and the 67 case.

Example 2: a spouse with a smaller benefit, at full retirement age. Same couple, but the spouse has a PIA of $800 and starts at 67. Social Security pays the spouse’s own $800, plus the excess of $1,200 minus $800, which is $400. Total: $1,200. Run it.

Example 3: the same spouse at 62. The worker files at 67, the month the spouse turns 62, and the spouse applies that month. Under deemed filing, that counts as applying for both benefits.

• Own benefit: 70% of $800 is $560.
• Excess: $400 cut by 35% is $260.
• Total: $820 a month, for good.

Run it. The calculator shows the spouse’s own $560 and the $260 on the worker’s record as separate rows.

Example 4: own benefit at 62, top-up years later. The spouse was born in 1963, has a PIA of $800 and started their own benefit at 62 in 2025, at $560. The worker files at 70, in 2030, when the spouse is 67. The excess of $400 now starts with no cut, because the spouse has reached full retirement age. The own benefit keeps its cut. Total: $560 plus $400, or $960 a month, not $1,200. Run it.

Example 5: the worker waits to 70. The worker files at 70 and gets $2,976 a month, 124% of the PIA. The spouse, born in 1963 with no work record, starts the same month at 67. The spouse’s benefit is $1,200, half the PIA, not half of $2,976 ($1,488). The spouse gets nothing on this record until the worker files. Run it.

Common spousal benefit mistakes

• Expecting half of the worker’s actual check. It is half the PIA. The worker’s delayed credits and early-claiming cut both leave it unchanged.
• Waiting past full retirement age for a bigger spouse’s benefit. It stops growing at your full retirement age.
• Planning to take the spouse’s benefit now and your own later. For anyone born on January 2, 1954 or later, deemed filing rules that out, except with a child in care.
• Expecting the top-up to undo an early cut. If you took your own benefit early, that cut stays after the excess starts.
• Assuming a non-covered government pension still blocks it. The GPO no longer applies to benefits for January 2024 onward.

About this guide

Written by the Diversify Guy editorial desk. Diversify Guy is a pen name. It is the byline of our editorial team, not a single individual. We do not publish personal trading records or claim to be your adviser. We tell you where every figure came from so you can check it yourself. How we work and how we get paid.

This guide explains federal rules. It is not personalized tax, legal or investment advice. Diversify Guy earns affiliate commissions and advertising fees from companies featured elsewhere on the site. This page carries no ads and no affiliate links.

Sources and check dates

All sources were fetched and checked on October 27, 2026.

• Social Security Act section 202 (42 U.S.C. 402), wife’s and husband’s benefits, simultaneous entitlement, reduction for age, deemed filing, U.S. Code 2024 edition: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title42/html/USCODE-2024-title42-chap7-subchapII-sec402.htm
• Social Security Act section 203 (42 U.S.C. 403), family maximum and earnings deductions, U.S. Code 2024 edition: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title42/html/USCODE-2024-title42-chap7-subchapII-sec403.htm
• Social Security Act section 216(b) and (f) (42 U.S.C. 416), definitions of wife and husband, including the one-year marriage rule, U.S. Code 2024 edition: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title42/html/USCODE-2024-title42-chap7-subchapII-sec416.htm
• Public Law 118-273, Social Security Fairness Act, January 5, 2025: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-118publ273/html/PLAW-118publ273.htm
• 20 CFR 404.330, who is entitled to wife’s or husband’s benefits, eCFR, title 20 up to date as of October 23, 2026: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-20/section-404.330
• 20 CFR 404.332, when wife’s and husband’s benefits begin and end: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-20/section-404.332
• 20 CFR 404.333, wife’s and husband’s benefit amounts: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-20/section-404.333
• 20 CFR 404.313, delayed retirement credits and other family members: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-20/section-404.313
• SSA POMS RS 00202.001, definitions and requirements for spouse benefits: https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0300202001
• SSA POMS RS 00202.020, spouse’s benefits, payment: https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0300202020
• SSA POMS RS 00202.035, spouse’s benefits, deductions: https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0300202035
• SSA POMS RS 00615.010, chart on reduced benefits: https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0300615010
• SSA POMS RS 00615.020, dual entitlement overview: https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0300615020
• SSA POMS RS 00615.201, reduced spouse’s benefits: https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0300615201
• SSA POMS GN 00204.035, deemed filing: https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0200204035
• Social Security Handbook sections 305, 312, 320, 322, 723 and 724: https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.03/handbook-0305.html, https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.03/handbook-0312.html, https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.03/handbook-0320.html, https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.03/handbook-0322.html, https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.07/handbook-0723.html, https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.07/handbook-0724.html
• SSA, Who can get Family benefits: https://www.ssa.gov/family/eligibility
• SSA, What you could get from Family benefits: https://www.ssa.gov/family/amount
• SSA, Family benefits: https://www.ssa.gov/family
• SSA, Starting your retirement benefits early (reduction table by year of birth): https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/agereduction.html
• SSA, Delayed retirement credits: https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/delayret.html
• SSA, Filing rules for retirement and spouses benefits: https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/claiming.html
• SSA, Retirement Benefits, Publication No. 05-10035, 2026: https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10035.pdf
• SSA, Office of the Chief Actuary, retirement benefits for spouses: https://www.ssa.gov/oact/quickcalc/spouse.html
• SSA, Office of the Chief Actuary, benefit reduction for early retirement (reduction months at 62): https://www.ssa.gov/oact/quickcalc/earlyretire.html
• SSA blog, Do you qualify for Social Security spouse’s benefits?, July 11, 2024: https://www.ssa.gov/blog/en/posts/2024-07-11.html
• SSA, Social Security Fairness Act: Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) update: https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/social-security-fairness-act.html