Social Security retirement benefits can go a long way toward helping you pay for your retirement expenses, but to qualify for them, you need to earn at least 40 work credits. One credit is defined as $1,810 in earnings in 2025, and you can earn a maximum of four credits per year.

If you stayed out of the workforce to care for children or an ill family member, you may not have the work history you need to claim retirement benefits. But you could still qualify for spousal Social Security benefits if you’re married. Here’s a closer look at how much the average spousal benefit actually covers.

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How the Social Security Administration calculates spousal benefits

Spousal Social Security benefits are worth up to one-half of what the worker qualifies for at their full retirement age (FRA). This is 67 for most workers today, but it can be as young as 66 for some older adults. The worker doesn’t have to claim at 67, and if they claim early or late, it won’t affect the maximum spousal benefit you’re eligible for.

Your claiming age matters, though. To get your maximum spousal benefit, you must delay Social Security until your own FRA. There’s no incentive to sign up after this age because your spousal benefits won’t grow any further. This is different from Social Security retirement benefits, which continue to increase with every month you delay until you turn 70.

Claiming early reduces your spousal benefit by 25/36 of 1% per month for up to 36 months. If you apply more than three years early, you lose an additional 5/12 of 1% per month. Those who sign up immediately at 62 could shrink their spousal benefit by up to 35%.

To give you an idea of how this works, say you’re married to a worker who qualifies for a $2,000 monthly benefit at their FRA of 67. Your max spousal benefit would be $1,000 per month if you claimed at your FRA of 67, assuming you’re not entitled to your own retirement benefit that’s larger than this. But if you applied at 62, you’d only get $650 per month.

How far spousal Social Security goes in retirement

The average spousal Social Security benefit was $931 per month as of January 2025. That amounts to a little over $11,000 per year. Retired workers, on the other hand, took home an average monthly benefit of $1,979 per month in January, which would give them about $23,700 per year.

If you received one retirement benefit and one spousal benefit, you’re looking at just under $35,000 per year. This doesn’t take the Social Security earnings test, which reduces the benefits for some workers claiming under their FRA, into account. It also doesn’t consider the effects of Social Security benefit taxes.

It’s probably not enough for most people to live on alone, so ideally, you’d have personal savings to supplement your checks. Strategic planning could also help you squeeze a little more from your benefits.

For example, if you’re dually eligible for a retirement benefit and a spousal benefit but your spousal benefit is larger, you may prefer to claim Social Security early to enable your partner to delay until they qualify for larger checks. Then, when they sign up, you can switch to your spousal benefit. This can help increase your household benefits.

Keep in mind that you typically can’t claim a spousal benefit until your partner has signed up. There is an exception, though, for divorced couples. If you were married for at least 10 years before divorcing and you have not remarried, you can claim a spousal benefit on your ex’s work record. You may do so even if they haven’t applied for Social Security yet as long as you’ve been divorced for at least two years.

Married couples should take some time to plan when each person will apply for benefits if they haven’t already done so. You can create a my Social Security account to estimate the size of your retirement benefit and spousal benefit at various ages. Once you know about how much you’ll get from the program, you can figure out how much you’ll need to save on your own to cover the remainder.

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