Drawing on studies that have highlighted the adverse effect of neuroticism on marital satisfaction, the present study proposes a totality model of couple neuroticism: the greater the sum of spousal levels of neuroticism, the worse the marital satisfaction. Moreover, in testing the totality model of neuroticism, this study conducts a comparative analysis between the totality model and alternative models, including actor–partner, similarity, and synergistic models, to assess the efficacy of the totality model in capturing marital satisfaction within marital dyads. In two distinct studies, conducted with participants from South Korea (nstudy1 = 204 marital dyads, nstudy2 = 251 marital dyads), data were collected via online surveys that included assessments of neuroticism and marital satisfaction. The findings reveal a robust negative association between the cumulative neuroticism scores of both spouses and marital satisfaction. Importantly, the findings of the present study suggest that the totality model offers a more parsimonious yet equally effective method for predicting marital satisfaction compared with more complex models. In summary, this study underscores the significance of considering the combined neuroticism levels of both spouses as a pivotal indicator of marital dissatisfaction. •The sum of wife and husband neuroticism scores is related to marital satisfaction.•The totality model captures marital satisfaction efficiently and simply.•The robustness of the totality model is confirmed across reports and techniques.•The study highlights neuroticism in couples, not individuals, as a unit.