Survivors Benefits — The Numbers

Aged widow(er) alone

$1,919/mo

Widowed mother, two children

$3,898/mo

The 2026 adjustment

2.8%

Family maximum hinges

3applied to the PIA

A survivor benefit is a share of what the deceased worker was receiving or had earned. A widow or widower at their own full retirement age receives the full primary insurance amount; claiming earlier reduces it. The cost-of-living adjustment applies to the underlying amount, so a survivor benefit rises with it in exactly the same way.

Where more than one survivor is paid on the same record, the family maximum caps the total. The family-maximum hinges by year of eligibility.

The other programmes

• Social Security Retirement

  The rates, the formula and the COLA as they apply to a retired worker.

• Social Security Disability (SSDI)

  The disability rates, the work thresholds and how the COLA reaches a disabled worker.

• Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

  The federal benefit rate, the resource limits and why SSI has no Medicare premium deducted.

• Spousal Benefits

  The spousal percentage of the worker PIA, the family maximum ceiling and the COLA.

• Children's Benefits

  What a child on a worker record receives, and the family maximum that caps it.

The rates behind these figures

• Average benefitsand the distribution
• Maximum benefit$4,152 at FRA
• Bend pointsthe formula
• SSI rateevery year
• The 2026 COLA2.8%
• Your amount24 FRA years too