How Are Social Security Spousal Benefits Calculated?

Plus three key ways to maximize your spousal benefits

Reviewed by David Kindness
Fact checked by Pete Rathburn

If you’re eligible for Social Security spousal benefits, how much you’ll receive depends on a number of factors, including your age, the amount of your spouse’s benefit, and whether you have other retirement benefits available to you.

Who’s eligible? Anyone whose spouse, ex-spouse, or deceased spouse was or is eligible for benefits, once you have reached the age of eligibility, is eligible.

The maximum spousal benefit that you can receive is 50% of your spouse’s benefit at their full retirement age. The precise amount you’ll get and when you’ll get it depend on several circumstances, including your spouse’s age and past income, your age and past income, and more.

That leaves some room for you to maximize the amount you receive. And if that amount is less than what you would get based on your own past income, you’ll automatically get the higher amount.

Read on to find out if you qualify for Social Security spousal benefits and to get information about how spousal benefits are calculated. Then you’ll know how to maximize them.

Key Takeaways

• The maximum spousal benefit is 50% of the other spouse’s full benefit at their full retirement age.
• You may be eligible if you’re married, divorced, or widowed.
• You can collect spousal benefits as early as age 62, but in most cases, the benefits are permanently reduced if you start collecting before your full retirement age.
• If your past income earns a higher benefit, you’ll receive that rather than the spousal benefit.

Who Qualifies for Social Security Spousal Benefits?

If your spouse has filed for Social Security benefits, you can also collect benefits based on their work record, if:

• You are at least 62 years old.
• Regardless of your age, you care for a child who is entitled to receive benefits on your spouse’s record, and who is under age 16—or a child who receives Social Security disability benefits.

(Even if you make a claim before you reach your full retirement age, your spousal benefits will not be reduced if you’re caring for a child who qualifies under the age or disability rules.)

When you apply for spousal benefits, you’ll also be applying for benefits based on your own work history. If you’re eligible for benefits based on your earnings, and that benefit amount is higher than your spousal benefit, you’ll get the higher amount.

If it’s lower, you’ll get “a combination of the two benefits that equals the higher amount,” according to the Social Security Administration (SSA).

How Spousal Benefits Are Calculated

Spousal benefits are calculated based on how much the other spouse would receive if that person began collecting Social Security benefits at the full retirement age.

The benefit amount increases gradually from age 66 to 67. For those born in and before 1942, it’s 65. For those born in the years 1943 to 1959, it’s age 66. For those born in 1960 and after, it’s 67.

No matter when your spouse actually retires, or if your spouse dies, their full benefit amount is relevant to you in calculating your spousal benefit entitlement.

The SSA’s online calculator shows you the effects of early retirement—that is, the percentage of your spouse’s benefits you will receive, based on your age when you apply.

The upshot: You’re eligible for half of your spouse’s benefit amount as long as you wait until your full retirement age to apply. The earlier you file, the less you’ll get.

Claiming Early or Late

You can claim spousal benefits as early as age 62, but you won’t receive as much as you will if you wait until your own full retirement age.

For example, if your full retirement age is 67 and you choose to claim spousal benefits at 62, you’d receive a benefit equal to 34.6% of your spouse’s full benefit amount.

The amount you receive increases with each year you delay. At your full retirement age (age 67 in this example), you’d be eligible for the maximum, which is 50% of your spouse’s full benefit. So there is no incentive to file for spousal benefits later than your own full retirement age.

If You’re Receiving Other Retirement Benefits

Up until 2024, the calculation was a bit more complicated if you were eligible to receive benefits from a government pension or foreign employer not covered by Social Security. In that case, you may still have been eligible, but the benefit amount was reduced.

For example, if you had a government pension for which Social Security taxes were not withheld, the amount of your spousal benefit was reduced by two-thirds of the amount of your pension. This was known as a government pension offset.

However, that has changed due to the Social Security Fairness Act of 2023.

The Social Security Fairness Act of 2023

On Jan. 5, 2025, a new U.S. law was enacted that affects provisions related to Social Security benefits.

The Social Security Fairness Act of 2023 eliminates the government pension offset referred to above. Social Security benefits for spouses, widows, and widowers who also receive government pensions will no longer be diminished for those receiving the aforementioned benefits.

The Act also:

• Voids terms that reduce Social Security payments to people who receive other benefits, such as a state or local government pension
• Eliminates the windfall elimination provision, which could diminish Social Security payments to those people who also receive pensions or disability benefits from companies that didn’t withhold income for Social Security taxes

Important

The Social Security Fairness Act applies to Social Security benefits payable after December 2023.

Spousal Benefits for Divorced Spouses

If you’re divorced, you may be eligible for spousal benefits based on your ex-spouse’s work record. The rules are much the same, plus:

• Your marriage must have lasted for at least 10 years.
• You must currently be unmarried.

Even if your former spouse hasn’t yet filed for benefits, you can still file for spousal benefits if you have been divorced for at least two years.

However, you must be at least 62 years old, and your spouse must be old enough to qualify for benefits.

If your ex-spouse has died, you may apply for Social Security survivors benefits.

Survivors Benefits for Widows and Widowers

With Social Security survivors benefits, a widow or widower can receive up to 100% of a spouse’s benefit amount if the survivor has reached full retirement age at the time of the application.

The payment is reduced to somewhere from 71½% to 99% of the deceased’s benefits if the widowed person is at least 60 years old but younger than full retirement age. So it pays to hold off until you reach your full retirement age to maximize the amount you’ll receive.

Disabled surviving spouses can apply for survivors benefits as early as age 50.

Spouse Dies Before Retirement Age

You may be eligible for benefits even if your spouse died long before reaching retirement age. Here’s how it works:

Every employee or self-employed worker earns Social Security credits for working. In 2025, one credit equals $1,810 of income. Once you’ve earned $7,240 (four credits), you’ve maxed out your credits for the year.

If your deceased spouse earned 40 credits—that’s 10 years of work—with at least $7,240 in earnings per year, then a spousal benefit was earned.

Note

If you are receiving spousal benefits and your spouse dies, promptly notify the SSA. Once you do so, your spousal benefit (of up to 50% of your partner’s full retirement age benefit) will convert to a survivor benefit (of up to 100%). It’s usually not retroactive so act quickly.

Spousal Benefits Loophole

You may have heard or read about other ways to increase the amount of your spousal benefit. Unfortunately, under new Social Security rules, a popular strategy has been abolished.

The File and Suspend Strategy

Prior to 2016, workers could file for benefits (making their partners eligible to claim spousal benefits), then suspend their own benefits in order to maximize their credits for deferred filing.

This so-called file and suspend strategy meant that a lower-income partner could take advantage of spousal benefits while the primary earner accrued delayed retirement credits, thereby increasing their benefit amount.

While it is still possible to file for benefits and then suspend payments temporarily, any other benefits that would normally be available on your account (such as spousal benefits) are no longer payable during such suspensions.

Strategies for Maximizing Spousal Benefits

Every married couple has to figure out the best way to maximize their benefits depending on their own circumstances.

The three strategies below will help you make the most of your Social Security spousal benefits, depending on your circumstances.

However, keep in mind that, regardless of your circumstances, the most a spouse can get is 50% of the amount that the higher-earning partner is entitled to at full retirement age.

1. Strategy for Late Claimers

If one partner has little or no earnings history, the best strategy is for the wage earner to postpone applying for Social Security retirement benefits until age 70 to get the highest amount possible.

Full retirement age is 66 for most baby boomers and 67 for everyone born in 1960 or later. By delaying claiming benefits until age 70, the wage earner will accrue delayed retirement credits that will increase the monthly payments by a certain percentage for each year of delay. For people born in 1943 or later, it’s 8% per year.

Keep in mind that this won’t affect the spousal benefit amount. If you delay claiming personal retirement benefits past full retirement age, the benefit increases over time. However, that will have no impact on your spouse’s benefits, since they max out at full retirement age.

In other words, there is no benefit for your spouse in delaying the spousal benefit claim past your full retirement age.

On the other hand, if both spouses work, and their earnings are more or less equal, then their individual Social Security benefits will each be greater than the spousal benefit. So the best strategy for both is to postpone applying for benefits until age 70.

2. Strategy for Divorced Spouses

If you’ve been divorced for at least two years, you can apply for spousal benefits if your marriage lasted 10 or more years.

Or, if you are still married, are considering a divorce, and are near retirement age, try to apply for spousal benefits before your divorce is final. If you’ve been married and divorced multiple times, you can choose to receive whichever spousal benefit is highest.

3. Strategy for Widowed Spouses

Widows and widowers may receive full survivors benefits at their full retirement age or reduced benefits as early as age 60. And if you remarry, you may apply for spousal benefits based on your new spouse’s record instead, depending on the circumstances.

If you’re collecting a survivor benefit but also qualify for your own retirement benefit, you may wish to collect a survivor benefit in the early years of retirement and leave your retirement benefits to accrue delayed retirement credits. Then you can collect your own retirement benefit at age 70.

How Do Social Security Spousal Benefits Work?

You’re eligible for spousal benefits if you’re married, divorced, or widowed, and your spouse is or was eligible for Social Security. Spouses and ex-spouses generally are eligible for up to half of the spouse’s benefits. Widows and widowers can receive up to 100%.

You can claim benefits based on your own work history or on that of your spouse. You’ll automatically get the larger amount.

If you are no more than three months away from age 62, you can apply online or by phone. If you plan to put off applying to get the largest payment possible, wait until you’re no more than three months from full retirement age. That’s 65, 66, or 67, depending on your birth year.

Can I Collect Half of My Spouse’s Social Security at Age 62?

Not quite. The percentage of your spouse’s full retirement benefit that you receive could be as little as 32.5% at age 62. It steps up gradually to 50% as you near your full retirement age, which is 65, 66, or 67, depending on your birth year. And don’t bother delaying your spousal benefits past your full retirement age. The amount you receive won’t grow beyond that age.

What Is the Maximum Spousal Social Security Benefit?

The maximum spousal benefit is 50% of the amount that the spouse is eligible to receive at full retirement age. Survivors may receive up to 100% of the deceased spouse’s Social Security benefit.

How Can I Switch from My Social Security Benefit to a Spousal Benefit?

You can only switch from your benefit to a spousal benefit if your spouse has begun receiving retirement benefits and you are at least 62 years old (or are caring for a qualifying child). You can claim your benefit based on your work history until your spouse files, and then you can switch to the spousal benefit. However, if you’re not at your full retirement age, you’ll get paid a reduced spousal benefit, which can be as low as 32.5% of your spouse’s benefit amount.

To monitor your benefits or change them, you can create an account on the Social Security website. It allows you to make some changes online, although others require a phone call.

The Bottom Line

Maximizing your spousal Social Security benefits is all about timing, and timing is determined by your circumstances as a couple.

If both partners work, they should investigate what each partner’s individual benefit will be. Unless one partner earns massively more than the other, it will probably pay for both to file individually, waiting at least until full retirement age—and ideally age 70, if possible.