Social Security Spousal Benefit Calculator
How much can a spouse collect on the other's Social Security record, and at what age? Every piece below can be linked to, so it opens in a window on your reader's screen, current as of the record. No form to fill in.
2026 law · Reviewed September 6, 2026 · The full page, with methodology and sources · the terms · All tools
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Both spouses' full benefits, the spouse's birth year, and a claiming age in; the own benefit, the spousal top-up, and the total at every age from 62 to 70 out. In a frame it carries no cookies, no tracking, and a visible link back to the methodology. Your site has to allow frames; most do. The link that opens it in a small window is on the professionals page.
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- In plain words.
- If you are married, you can collect a benefit based on your spouse's work record instead of, or on top of, your own: up to half of what your spouse would get at full retirement age. Claim it before your own full retirement age and it is reduced; waiting past full retirement age adds nothing. If you have your own work record, Social Security pays your own benefit plus whatever the spousal amount exceeds it by. This tool takes both full benefits and shows what you would receive at each age from 62 to 70.
- Why it matters.
- A spouse who stayed home or earned much less often has a larger benefit available than their own record shows, and the timing rule is the opposite of the usual advice: there is no reward for waiting past full retirement age.
- An example.
- Your spouse's full benefit is $3,000 and your own is $1,000. At your full retirement age you would receive $1,500 in all: your $1,000 plus a $500 spousal top-up. At 62 the two parts are reduced separately, to about $1,025.
- Where it stops.
- Your spouse must already have filed for their own benefit, and claiming either benefit now means claiming both. It does not cover survivor benefits, which have their own tool, or the rules for a divorced spouse beyond noting them.
The facts
Six quotable sentences on the spousal benefit, from the regulations.
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- A spouse can receive up to 50 percent of the worker's full retirement benefit, once the worker has filed (20 CFR 404.333). It is paid on top of the spouse's own benefit only as the excess over it.
- Claimed before the spouse's own full retirement age, the spousal amount is reduced 25/36 of a percent a month for the first 36 months and 5/12 of a percent beyond (404.410(b)): at 62 with a full retirement age of 67, 32.5% of the worker's full benefit instead of 50.
- Waiting past full retirement age adds nothing to a spousal benefit; delayed retirement credits apply only to a person's own record. There is no reason to wait past it for the spousal part.
- Example: a worker's full benefit is $3,000 and the spouse's own is $1,000. The spousal excess is $500; claimed at 62, the spouse receives $700 on their own record plus $325 of reduced excess, $1,025 in all.
- Since the deemed-filing rules, claiming either benefit is treated as claiming both; a spouse can no longer take the spousal benefit alone and let their own grow, unless born before 1954.
- A divorced spouse married ten years or more has the same benefit on the former spouse's record, without the former spouse having to file if the divorce is two years old, and without affecting the former spouse or a new spouse.
The spousal benefit by claiming age
Half at full retirement age, reduced before it, never more after it.
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| Claimed at | Full retirement age 67 (born 1960 or later) | 66 and 8 months (born 1958) | 66 and 6 months (born 1957) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62 | 32.5% | 32.5% | 33.8% |
| 63 | 35.0% | 35.0% | 36.3% |
| 64 | 37.5% | 37.5% | 39.6% |
| 65 | 41.7% | 41.7% | 43.8% |
| 66 | 45.8% | 45.8% | 47.9% |
| 67 | 50.0% | 50.0% | 50.0% |
Cite and link.
The clean address, a citation generated from the record so it can never carry a stale review date, and an address for every section so you can point a reader at the exact table or method.
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- Link
- https://consideratecapital.com/tools/spousal-benefit-calculator
- Citation
- Considerate Capital, "Social Security Spousal Benefit Calculator," reviewed September 6, 2026, https://consideratecapital.com/tools/spousal-benefit-calculator.
Link to a section
- The calculator https://consideratecapital.com/tools/spousal-benefit-calculator#calculator
- The facts https://consideratecapital.com/tools/spousal-benefit-calculator#facts
- By claiming age https://consideratecapital.com/tools/spousal-benefit-calculator#key-numbers
- How the spousal benefit works https://consideratecapital.com/tools/spousal-benefit-calculator#how-it-works
- Methodology https://consideratecapital.com/tools/spousal-benefit-calculator#methodology
- Sources https://consideratecapital.com/tools/spousal-benefit-calculator#sources
- Revision history https://consideratecapital.com/tools/spousal-benefit-calculator#revision-history
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