Social Security Survivor Benefits Pay Chart
When one spouse dies, the survivor keeps the larger of the two Social Security benefits, not both. Enter what each of you receives to see the household income that would remain, the monthly drop in each case, and how the higher earner's claiming age sets the survivor's floor for life. Estimate only.
Works offline — your inputs never leave this device. How that works
The two benefits in your household
Use the monthly amounts each of you receives now, or the figures on your Social Security statements if neither of you has claimed yet.
The monthly figure at full retirement age, taken from your own Social Security statement at ssa.gov. We use the number the agency gave you rather than estimating our own, so this can never disagree with what SSA tells you.
If one of you has never worked under Social Security, enter 0.
What changes when one of you dies
When one spouse dies, the survivor receives the larger of the two benefits — not both. The smaller benefit stops.
Your household now
$4,200 a month
$50,400 a year, from two checks
The survivor would receive
$2,800 a month
The larger of the two benefits — the smaller one stops
Monthly income lost
$1,400
33.3% of the household total, or $16,800 a year
Saved figures stay in this browser and fill in the other calculators here. Nothing is sent anywhere, and there is no account to make.
Either way round
The survivor keeps the larger benefit whichever of you dies first, so the household loses the smaller one in both cases. What differs is who is left living on it.
| If this person dies first | The survivor receives | Monthly income lost |
|---|---|---|
| The higher earner | $2,800 | $1,400 (33.3%) |
| The lower earner | $2,800 | $1,400 (33.3%) |
The one lever that changes this
Because the survivor keeps the larger benefit, the age at which the higher earner claims sets the floor the survivor lives on for the rest of their life. That is a different question from when either of you breaks even, and for many couples it matters more.
This sets their full retirement age, which the figures below are measured against.
| Higher earner claims at | Their monthly benefit | The survivor's floor | Against claiming earliest |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62 | $1,960 | $1,960 a month | — |
| 67 | $2,800 | $2,800 a month | +$840 a month |
| 70 | $3,472 | $3,472 a month | +$1,512 a month |
This is arithmetic, not a recommendation
The part nobody mentions
A surviving spouse usually files as single from the year after the death. The income thresholds at which Social Security becomes taxable are lower for a single filer than for a couple, and they have not been adjusted for inflation since they were written. So it is possible for a smaller benefit to be taxed more heavily than the larger household benefit was.
| Filing status | Up to 50% taxable above | Up to 85% taxable above |
|---|---|---|
| Married, filing jointly (now) | $32,000 | $44,000 |
| Single (the survivor) | $25,000 | $34,000 |
You can work the numbers through on the taxes on benefits calculator.
What this page does not cover
Where to go for more than this page does
This calculator is deliberately simple: one number in, a clear comparison out. These do things it does not, and all of them are free.
- Your Social Security statement (ssa.gov) ↗
The benefit figure every calculator here starts from. Sign in and read it off your own statement.
- SSA's own benefit estimators ↗
The agency's calculators, including the quick estimate and the detailed one that works from your earnings record.
- ssa.tools ↗
A free, independent tool that reads your earnings record in your browser and shows exactly how the benefit formula produced your number. Better than ours at that particular job.
- Open Social Security ↗
A free, open-source calculator that finds the claiming strategy with the highest expected present value, including spousal and survivor benefits. Where to go when you want the fuller treatment.
- Actuaries Longevity Illustrator ↗
From the American Academy of Actuaries: a probability range for your own longevity based on your health and habits, which is a more honest input than a single guessed age.
Verified 2026-08-02 against SSA — Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Information for 2026 (effective 2026-01-01)
Estimate only — not financial, tax, legal, or insurance advice. Only SSA can determine your actual amounts.
Official source: SSA — Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Information for 2026 ↗
🎓 Understand this tool
What it is
Shows what happens to a married household's Social Security income when one spouse dies: the survivor keeps the larger of the two benefits and the smaller one stops, so two checks become one.
How it works
It compares the household total now against the larger single benefit that remains, in both directions, since the rule applies whichever spouse dies first. It then shows how the higher earner's claiming age changes the floor the survivor would live on, because the survivor inherits the larger benefit at the amount it was claimed at.
Getting the most from it
- Enter both monthly benefits — the amounts you receive now, or the figures on your statements if neither of you has claimed yet.
- Read the drop in household income, in dollars and as a share of the total.
- Enter the higher earner's birth year to see how their claiming age moves the survivor's floor.
- Look at the tax table at the bottom, which most write-ups leave out entirely.
Reading your result
The figure that matters is the monthly drop, because it is the gap the survivor has to live with permanently. The claiming-age table shows the one lever available: because the survivor keeps the larger benefit, delaying the higher earner's claim raises the survivor's income for the rest of their life. That is a different question from break-even, and often a more important one.
What it can't tell you
Survivor rules are broader than this page. Claiming as early as sixty at a reduced rate, the effect of remarrying, benefits for a surviving divorced spouse, and benefits for children or a caring parent all have their own rules and are not modelled here. Nor is the one-off death payment. Social Security is the authority on any individual case.
Frequently asked questions
The survivor keeps the larger of the two benefits and the smaller one stops. A household that was receiving two checks starts receiving one, which is why the drop in income is usually far bigger than couples expect it to be.
Related calculators
62 vs 67 vs 70
See what claiming at 62, at your full retirement age, and at 70 would pay each month and each year, worked from the benefit figure on your own Social Security statement. Includes the break-even math between any two of them, and an honest account of what that break-even age leaves out. Estimate only.
Break-even
Enter the benefit printed on your own Social Security statement and see the age at which claiming later overtakes claiming earlier, in plain cumulative dollars and again weighted by the chance of living to collect. This is an estimate, and the panel beside it names the four things a break-even age cannot tell you.
Taxes on benefits
Work out how much of your Social Security is taxable, using the combined-income test the IRS actually applies: your other income, plus any tax-exempt interest, plus half your benefits. Crossing a threshold taxes only the amount above it, up to 85%, which makes it a bracket rather than the cliff Medicare's income surcharge uses. Estimate only.
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