How Much Social Security Does a Widow Get by Age?

How much Social Security a widow gets depends mostly on the age she starts claiming: 71.5% of the deceased worker’s benefit at age 60, rising gradually with each month of delay, and reaching 100% at her own survivor full retirement age (between 66 and 67 depending on birth year). A widow of any age caring for the deceased’s child under 16 or a disabled child gets 75%. A disabled widow between 50 and 59 gets 71.5%. The same rules apply to widowers.

What You Get at Each Age

Every percentage is applied to the deceased worker’s primary insurance amount — the monthly benefit that worker would have received at full retirement age.

Age 60: 71.5%
Between 60 and full retirement age: a sliding percentage that climbs each month you wait. Roughly, over 75% at 61, over 80% at 63, over 90% at 65.¹
Full retirement age (66 to 67): 100%
Disabled widow, age 50 through 59: 71.5% (flat, regardless of the exact age in that range)²
Any age, caring for the deceased’s child under 16 or a disabled child: 75%³

Full retirement age for survivor benefits is set by your own birth year, not the deceased worker’s. Widows born in 1962 or later have a survivor full retirement age of 67. Waiting past that age does not increase a survivor benefit — 100% is the ceiling.

For a disabled widow, benefits can start as early as 50, but the payment is fixed at 71.5% anywhere in the 50–59 window. Social Security’s disability standard applies: a medical condition that prevents substantial work and is expected to last at least 12 months.

Why the Dollar Amount Varies So Much

The primary insurance amount comes from the deceased worker’s highest-earning years, indexed for inflation, averaged into Average Indexed Monthly Earnings, and run through a formula set in law.⁴ A worker who consistently earned near the Social Security taxable maximum produces a much larger benefit than a modest earner.

Because a widow at full retirement age receives 100% of that figure, the maximum possible survivor benefit tracks the maximum retirement benefit. After the 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment for 2026, that top-end figure can exceed $4,000 per month for the highest earners.⁵ Most widows receive considerably less, in line with what their spouse actually earned.

A separate $255 lump-sum death payment may also be available to a surviving spouse who applies within two years of death. It is not part of the monthly benefit and has been fixed at that amount since 1954.⁶

Do You Qualify at All?

Three conditions generally apply. Your marriage lasted at least nine months before the death. The worker was fully insured, which usually means 40 work credits — roughly ten years of covered work. And you meet one of the age or caregiving thresholds above.

The nine-month rule is waived when the death was accidental (sudden bodily injury from an external event, with death within three months) or occurred during active military duty.⁷⁸

A divorced surviving spouse qualifies on the same age and disability terms if the marriage lasted at least ten years. Those payments don’t reduce anything the current widow or other family members collect.⁹

What Can Shrink the Check You Actually Receive

Working Before Full Retirement Age

If you claim before your full retirement age and keep working, the earnings test can hold back part of your benefit. For 2026, $1 is withheld for every $2 you earn above $24,480. In the year you reach full retirement age, a higher limit of $65,160 applies, and $1 is withheld for every $3 above it, counting only earnings before the month you hit full retirement age.⁵ Once you reach full retirement age, the earnings test ends and withheld amounts are added back into future monthly payments.

Government Pension Offset

If you receive a pension from a federal, state, or local job that was not covered by Social Security, two-thirds of that pension is subtracted from your survivor benefit.¹⁰ A $1,500 government pension wipes out $1,000 of a survivor check; if the offset is bigger than the benefit, you receive nothing. The offset does not apply if your government job was covered by Social Security.

Remarriage

Timing controls the outcome. Remarrying at 60 or later (or 50 or later if you’re disabled) preserves your survivor benefits on the late spouse’s record. Remarrying before that age generally ends eligibility on that record.² If a disqualifying remarriage is later annulled, benefits on the original record can be reinstated.¹¹

Federal Income Tax

Survivor benefits are taxed like any other Social Security income. For a single filer, none of your benefits are taxable if combined income is below $25,000, up to 50% may be taxable between $25,000 and $34,000, and up to 85% may be taxable above $34,000. These thresholds are not indexed to inflation.

Coordinating Survivor and Your Own Retirement Benefit

You do not have to take both at once. The “deemed filing” rule that forces retirement and spousal claims together does not apply to survivor benefits.¹² That opens two common strategies.

If your own earnings record is strong, take the reduced survivor benefit at 60, let your own retirement benefit grow with delayed retirement credits, and switch to your own at 70. If the survivor benefit is the larger one, do the opposite: claim your own reduced retirement benefit at 62 and switch to the full survivor benefit at your survivor full retirement age. The right choice is whichever produces the higher payment over the years you expect to collect.

How Application Timing Affects the Amount

You can apply by phone at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778) or at a local Social Security office; the online application is not available for survivor benefits.¹³

Timing has a dollar cost. If you file after reaching full retirement age, Social Security can pay up to six months of retroactive benefits. Filing before full retirement age does not qualify for any retroactive payments, so waiting to apply after the date you want benefits to begin means giving up money you cannot recover.¹⁴

1
Social Security Administration. What You Could Get From Survivor Benefits
2
Social Security Administration. Survivors Benefits
3
Social Security Administration. Who Can Get Survivor Benefits
4
eCFR. 20 CFR Part 225 – Primary Insurance Amount Determinations
5
Social Security Administration. 2026 Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Fact Sheet
6
Social Security Administration. Lump-Sum Death Payment
7
Social Security Administration. Exception to the Nine-Month Duration of Marriage Requirement
8
Social Security Administration. Code of Federal Regulations 404.335 – How Do I Become Entitled to Widows or Widowers Benefits
9
Social Security Administration. Code of Federal Regulations 404.336 – How Do I Become Entitled to Widows or Widowers Benefits as a Surviving Divorced Spouse
10
Social Security Administration. Program Explainer – Government Pension Offset
11
Social Security Administration. Reinstatement of Benefits When Marriage Terminates
12
Social Security Administration. Filing Rules for Retirement and Spouses Benefits
13
Social Security Administration. Form SSA-10 – Information You Need to Apply for Widows, Widowers or Surviving Divorced Spouses Benefits
14
Social Security Administration. Retroactivity for Title II Benefits