Suze Orman’s Advice to Married Couples Got a Fresh Backing From Census Data

Suze Orman has long advised married couples to delay Social Security for the higher earner until age 70. New Census data analyzed by Investopedia helps explain why: one in five retiree households lived on less than $2,000 a month, and nearly four in five of those households were made up of people living alone.

That Census finding gives Orman’s guidance a sharper edge. The analysis of the Current Population Survey points to about 6.6 million retiree households below the $2,000-a-month mark, with a typical income of roughly $1,270 a month and a typical Social Security payment of about $970. Married retirees are far less likely to fall into that group: only about 7% of married retiree households bring in less than $2,000 a month, compared with more than a third of retirees who live alone.

Orman has put the point bluntly: married couples should have the higher earner delay claiming as long as possible, ideally until 70, because the surviving spouse gets the larger of the two benefits. That claim has major implications for a widow or widower trying to compare a Social Security check with household spending, retirement savings, and taxes.

Who falls below the $2,000 line

The typical retiree household had income of about $53,100 in the latest Census data, or roughly $4,400 a month. About 21% lived on less than $2,000 a month.

Within that lower-income group, the typical household lived on about $15,200 a year, just under the Census Bureau’s poverty threshold of $15,440 for a person age 65 or older living alone. Nearly three in four of those retirees rely on Social Security and Supplemental Security Income for at least 90% of their income, and their median benefit was around $970 a month. By comparison, the average retired-worker benefit was $2,089 as of September, according to the Social Security Administration. In many cases, the difference comes down to a smaller check claimed early or built on a short work history.

Living alone is the clearest dividing line. Marital status matters more than age: married retirees had a median household income of about $83,000, while retirees living alone had about $35,000. One caveat is that Census and Social Security researchers say retirees tend to underreport pension and account income, so the bottom fifth may be somewhat smaller than it appears.

A widow whose household fit the typical profile

Consider a 72-year-old widow in Ohio who lives in the paid-off home she once shared with her husband. He died in the spring. If he had claimed Social Security at 67, his monthly benefit would have been $2,500. By waiting until 70, he increased it by 24% to $3,100. Her own benefit, based on a shorter career, was $1,300. Together, their checks had totaled $4,400 a month, matching the Census figure for the typical retiree household’s income. Their spending was about $3,600 a month, leaving $800 left over from the checks alone. She also inherited his rollover IRA, which held $1.2 million and can remain untouched until age 73 under the rules that apply to her.

What happens when the second check ends

When one spouse dies, Social Security keeps the larger benefit and stops the smaller one. In this case, the widow’s $1,300 benefit ended, but his $3,100 benefit continued as the survivor benefit because it includes the delayed-retirement credits he earned by waiting. The household’s Social Security income fell by $1,300 a month, or 30%, once she became a one-person household.

If he had claimed at 62 instead, his benefit would have been reduced to 70% of $2,500, or $1,750. That would be the amount she would receive today: $250 a month below the Census $2,000 line and in the bottom fifth with the 6.6 million households there. His decision to wait until 70 effectively added $1,350 a month to her income for life, or $16,200 a year, and about $243,000 over 15 years before cost-of-living increases. That is the kind of difference Orman means when she calls delayed claiming a gift.

Her budget versus the Census numbers

Her expenses did not fall much after her husband died. The home, the car and Medicare still cost nearly the same as they did for two people.

• Property tax, insurance, utilities and upkeep on the paid-off house: $1,050
• Groceries and eating out: $600
• Car expenses, including insurance, gas and repairs: $400
• Medicare Part B at $202.90, Medigap Plan G at $180, Part D at $47, plus dental and out-of-pocket costs at $150: $580
• Phone, internet and TV: $150
• Church and gifts: $250
• Trips to see the kids: $300
• Clothing, personal care and other costs: $270

Total monthly spending: $3,600, or $43,200 a year.

Against the Census data, her survivor benefit covers 86% of that budget. The remaining gap is $500 a month, or $6,000 a year, which equals 0.50% of her IRA. By contrast, the typical household in the bottom fifth, at $1,270 a month, has only about 35% of her budget to live on, and even the $2,000 threshold covers just 56% of it. For a retiree living alone in a paid-off home, $3,600 a month is not unusual. If your own budget looks similar, the deciding factor in which Census category you land in is the survivor benefit, and that is shaped by the higher earner’s claiming age.

The tax hit that comes later

She would file as a single taxpayer after her husband’s death, and that is where the next challenge appears. In her first full year alone, Social Security of $37,200 plus a $6,000 IRA withdrawal would create provisional income of $24,600, which is below the $25,000 level where Social Security benefits begin to be taxed. With the standard deduction for a single filer age 65 or older, her federal income tax would be zero.

When she turns 73, however, the IRS requires a larger IRA withdrawal. On a $1.2 million account, the first required minimum distribution would be $45,283, using 1,200,000 divided by 26.5. Under 2026 rules, that would make $29,901 of her Social Security taxable, lift her taxable income to $51,045 and produce a tax bill of $5,942, including $645 that falls into the 22% bracket. A married couple filing jointly with the same $82,483 of income and both spouses over 65 would owe $2,068. The difference, $3,873, reflects the single filer penalty: the same income facing a smaller deduction schedule.

Medicare has a similar structure. The 2026 surcharge threshold for a single filer is $109,000 of modified adjusted gross income, compared with $218,000 for a married couple. She would still have $33,816 of room below that line at age 73, but a larger IRA, a part-time job or an ill-timed Roth conversion could eat through it quickly. Anyone who expects to file single later should plan around those thresholds while joint-return planning is still available.

Where the plan is fragile

Her finances work because of two decisions her husband made: he delayed claiming until 70, and he left behind an IRA that she can draw down slowly. Without the IRA, she would have $3,100 a month coming in against $3,600 in expenses and would need to cut back. Without the delayed claim, she would be under $2,000 a month while also facing a $1.2 million account that must begin distributions at 73. If she took only $1,850 a month from that account, the withdrawal would be about 1.8% of the balance, which is sustainable, but every dollar would be taxed as ordinary income on a single return. The Census bottom fifth mostly includes people who had neither of those advantages.

The takeaway

The Census data show that one in five retiree households live on less than $2,000 a month, and nearly four in five of those households are made up of people living alone. For married couples, the survivor benefit is often what keeps the household out of that group. In this example, waiting until 70 left the widow $1,100 above the line with a $3,100 benefit, while claiming at 62 would have left her $250 below it. Her $1.2 million IRA can cover a $6,000 gap without tax this year, but it also creates a later tax bill of $5,942 that a couple with the same income would not face. For anyone comparing a household budget with the $2,000-a-month line, the higher earner’s Social Security claiming date may be the most valuable financial decision left to make.