Children's Benefits — The Numbers

Share of the worker PIA

50%living parent

Survivor child

75%deceased parent

Family maximum hinges

$1,643 · $2,371 · $3,093

The 2026 adjustment

2.8%

A child under 18 — or up to 19 while still in secondary school, or any age if disabled before 22 — can be paid on a parent’s record. The share is half the parent’s primary insurance amount while the parent is living and three-quarters where the parent has died.

The family maximum is what makes this arithmetic non-obvious. Add enough children and the shares are reduced proportionally so the total stays inside the cap, which is built from three hinges applied to the primary insurance amount. The worker’s own benefit is never reduced by it; only the dependants’ shares are.

SSA’s published average for a widowed mother with two children is $3,898 a month in 2026, up from $3,792 — a family figure, not a per-person one.

The family-maximum series 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.

• Survivors Benefits

  Widow and widower rates, the family maximum, and how the COLA applies to a survivor payment.

• Spousal Benefits

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

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