Family Benefits and the Family Maximum
A worker's children draw on their Social Security record, and so does a spouse caring for them. The family maximum caps what the record pays in total, and the worker's own benefit is never the part that gets cut. See what each person is owed, and what the cap leaves.
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The record
Leave at zero to use the full benefit. Claiming early reduces the worker's payment; the full benefit still sets the room available to everyone else.
The children
Zero for a slot with no child. A benefit ends at 18 unless the child is still in secondary school.
The family is paid
$5,286
A month, everyone on this record together
The family maximum
$5,288
176% of the worker's full benefit
What the cap takes
$2,214
Each child and spouse is paid 50.8% of their own benefit
A year of it
$63,432
2 children drawing on the record
Who is paid what
| Who | The rules allow | Paid | Lost to the cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Worker | $3,000 | $3,000 | $0 |
| Child 1 | $1,500 | $762 | $738 |
| Child 2 | $1,500 | $762 | $738 |
| Spouse caring for the children | $1,500 | $762 | $738 |
The worker's own benefit is paid in full and the rest is cut back in proportion, which is how the cap is applied.
The arithmetic
How it works›
The benefits. A child draws half the worker's full benefit while the worker is alive and three quarters after their death, and a spouse under 62 caring for a child under 16 draws the same. A child's benefit ends at 18, or at 19 if they are still in secondary school; a disability that began before 22 keeps it for life.
The maximum. For a worker reaching 62 or dying in 2026 the record pays at most 150% of the first $1,643 of the full benefit, 272% of the part between $1,643 and $2,371, 134% of the part to $3,093 and 175% above it, rounded down to the dime (90 FR 49051). That lands between 150% and 188% of the benefit, highest at the second bend point. The worker's own benefit counts toward it but is never reduced by it.
What it leaves out. A divorced spouse's benefit, which does not count toward the maximum; the different formula for a worker with a disability; the earnings test, which can withhold a benefit the maximum has already allowed; and benefits paid on two records at once, where the rules combine the maximums.