FERS Retirement Calculator: Federal Pension Estimate

A FERS pension (the basic annuity) is 1% of your high-3 average salary times your years of service, or 1.1% if you retire at 62 or older with at least 20 years. With a $95,000 high-3 and 30 years, that is $28,500 a year. If you are married, the full survivor benefit costs 10%, leaving $25,650, about $2,137 a month. Retire under MRA+10 and you lose 5% for each year you are under 62. If you retire before 62 on an unreduced annuity, a FERS supplement also pays an estimate of your Social Security until 62.

This calculator estimates the pension that OPM pays under the Federal Employees Retirement System. It does not cover your Thrift Savings Plan or Social Security. For Social Security, use the Social Security benefit calculator.

The calculator is for informational purposes only. It gives estimates based on the rules in 5 U.S.C. chapter 84 and OPM's published methods. It is not the official computation OPM makes when it processes your retirement, and its results are not guaranteed.

How is the FERS pension calculated?

OPM computes the basic annuity in three steps: average salary, service, and a percentage that depends on your age and retirement type (OPM, FERS Computation; 5 U.S.C. 8415).

High-3 average salary. This is the highest average basic pay you earned during any three consecutive years of service, usually your last three. Basic pay leaves out overtime and bonuses, but locality pay counts: 5 U.S.C. 5304(c)(2)(A) treats it as basic pay for FERS retirement.

Service. OPM adds up every period of creditable service, including military time for which you paid the deposit, and drops any leftover days. Service is credited in whole months, so 29 years, 11 months and 25 days counts as 29 years and 11 months, or 29.9167 years in the formula. Military service may not be creditable if you receive military retired pay (CSRS/FERS Handbook, chapter 50, section 50A2.1-2, which points to chapter 22 for the rules), so compare that pension in the military retirement calculator before you buy back time.

The 1.1% factor. It applies only to a regular FERS employee who separates at 62 or older with at least 20 years and retires on an immediate annuity under §8412. The statute excludes special-provision employees, who already have the 1.7% rate.

After the formula come the reductions, in this order: the age reduction for MRA+10 or early deferred retirement, then the survivor reduction. OPM divides the annual result by 12 and rounds down to the dollar to get the monthly payment (CSRS/FERS Handbook, chapter 50). The calculator follows the same order.

When can you retire under FERS?

You need at least 5 years of creditable civilian service for any FERS annuity. Beyond that, your age and years decide which option applies (OPM, FERS Eligibility; 5 U.S.C. 8412).

Your Minimum Retirement Age (MRA) depends on your year of birth:

A deferred annuity is for people who leave before they qualify for an immediate one. With 5 to 9 years of service it starts at 62 (5 U.S.C. 8413). With 10 or more years you can choose a date from your MRA up to 62. It is reduced like an MRA+10 annuity unless you had 30 years, or 20 years with the annuity starting at 60 or later.

The calculator's last table shows the earliest age at which each option opens if you keep working. For example, if you were born in 1975 and have 20 years at 50, MRA+10 opens at 57, and both MRA+30 and 60+20 at 60.

FERS pension examples with the math

These are the calculator's results for four common situations. Each one uses whole years and months and no sick leave unless stated.

1. MRA + 30 with a full survivor benefit. Born 1968 (MRA 56 and 8 months), leaving at 57 with 30 years, high-3 of $100,000, married.

• Basic annuity: $100,000 × 1% × 30 = $30,000.
• No age reduction: 30 years at the MRA is an unreduced retirement.
• Full survivor cost: 10% × $30,000 = $3,000, so the annuity is $27,000 a year, or $2,250 a month.
• Your spouse's survivor annuity would be 50% × $30,000 = $15,000 a year.
• If Social Security estimates $1,800 a month at 62, the supplement adds $1,800 × 30 ÷ 40 = $1,350 a month until 62. That makes $3,600 a month for the next five years.

2. Retiring at 62 with 25 years (1.1%). Born 1964, leaving at 62 years and 1 month with 25 years, high-3 of $90,000, no survivor benefit.

• Basic annuity: $90,000 × 1.1% × 25 = $24,750 a year, or $2,062 a month.
• Leaving two months earlier, at 61 and 11 months, drops the rate to 1%: $90,000 × 1% × 25 = $22,500. That is $2,250 a year less for life.

3. MRA + 10, reduced, versus postponing. Born 1970 (MRA 57), leaving at 57 with 15 years, high-3 of $80,000.

• Basic annuity: $80,000 × 1% × 15 = $12,000.
• Starting at once, you are 59 full months short of 62. The reduction is 59 × 5/12% = 24.58%, so you get $12,000 × 0.754167 = $9,050 a year, or $754 a month. OPM's Chart 8 uses the same factor, 0.754167, for an annuity that starts at 57 and at least a day.
• Postponed to 62, it pays the full $12,000, or $1,000 a month.
• Starting at 57 brings in 60 extra payments of $754, about $45,240. The postponed annuity pays $246 a month more, so it takes about 184 months (15.3 years) to catch up, which is around age 77. With 20 years of service, postponing to 60 would also remove the reduction.

4. Special provisions (law enforcement officer). Born 1975, leaving at 50 with 25 years of covered service, high-3 of $120,000, full survivor benefit.

• First 20 years: $120,000 × 1.7% × 20 = $40,800. The remaining 5 years: $120,000 × 1% × 5 = $6,000. Total: $46,800.
• Full survivor cost: 10% × $46,800 = $4,680, so the annuity is $42,120 a year, or $3,510 a month.
• With a $2,000 Social Security estimate at 62, the supplement is $2,000 × 25 ÷ 40 = $1,250 a month for 12 years. COLAs start right away instead of at 62.

How does unused sick leave increase a FERS annuity?

For separations after December 31, 2013, 100% of your unused sick leave counts as extra service in the annuity computation (5 U.S.C. 8415(m)). OPM converts hours with a 2,087-hour chart: 2,087 hours equal one year, and about 174 hours equal one month. If your balance falls between two chart entries, OPM uses the next higher one. For example, 2,000 hours count as 11 months and 15 days (CSRS/FERS Handbook, chapter 50, section 50A2.1-3F).

The sick leave days are added to your other service, and then any part-month is dropped. With 30 years of service and 1,044 hours of sick leave (exactly 6 months on the chart), a $100,000 high-3 earns $100,000 × 1% × 30.5 = $30,500 instead of $30,000.

Three limits apply:

• Not for eligibility. Sick leave cannot get you to 30, 20, 10 or 5 years for retirement, and it does not count toward the 30 or 20 years that waive the MRA+10 reduction.
• Not for the high-3 or for the FERS supplement.
• Immediate annuities only. OPM says sick leave is not credited in a deferred annuity (OPM, Types of Retirement). The calculator leaves it out of a postponed MRA+10 annuity too, because OPM's current guidance does not settle that case. Ask your agency's retirement counselor.

Sick leave can, however, get you to the 20 years needed for the 1.1% factor. In Benefits Administration Letter 18-103, OPM confirmed this for anyone 62 or older at separation. For example, 19 years and 6 months of service plus 1,044 hours gives 20 years, and a $90,000 high-3 then earns $90,000 × 1.1% × 20 = $19,800 instead of $17,550.

The MRA+10 reduction and how to avoid it

An MRA+10 annuity, or a deferred annuity that starts before 62, is reduced by 5/12 of 1% for each full month you are under 62 when it begins. That works out to 5% a year (§8415(h)). Starting at 57 takes about a quarter off the annuity for life. Starting at 60 takes about a tenth: 23 full months, or 9.58%.

There are three ways to shrink or remove it:

1. Postpone the start. You can elect a later start date, up to the day before you turn 62 (§8412(g)(2)). The reduction shrinks with every month you wait. With 20 years of service, a start at 60 removes it completely.
2. Reach 30 years. At your MRA, 30 years makes it an unreduced MRA+30 retirement, and that comes with the supplement.
3. Work to 60 with 20 years, which turns it into an unreduced 60+20 retirement.

When you choose, remember that an MRA+10 annuity never comes with the FERS supplement. If you postpone, you also go without income until the annuity starts. The calculator's "start now or postpone?" table puts the monthly amounts side by side.

Survivor benefit: full, partial or none

If you are married when you retire, FERS gives your spouse a survivor annuity by default. You can provide less only if you and your spouse waive it jointly in writing (5 U.S.C. 8416).

These percentages come from OPM's computation page and 5 U.S.C. 8442. The base is your annuity after any age reduction, so a reduced MRA+10 annuity also shrinks the survivor benefit. A survivor annuity also grows with the COLAs you received before you died. The calculator shows the survivor annuity next to its cost, so you can compare the two.

How does the FERS supplement work?

The FERS annuity supplement stands in for the Social Security you cannot claim until 62. It is paid with an immediate, unreduced annuity that starts before 62: MRA+30, 60+20, or a special-provision retirement (5 U.S.C. 8421). MRA+10, deferred and disability retirements do not include it.

The formula: your Social Security benefit at 62 × your FERS civilian years ÷ 40. OPM rounds the years to the nearest whole year, with half a year rounded up, and caps them at 40. Military service is not counted. OPM's own figure uses only your federal earnings (CSRS/FERS Handbook, chapter 51). The calculator uses the estimate on your SSA statement instead, which also includes any private-sector earnings, so it can overstate the supplement if you worked outside government.

When it stops: the month before your first Social Security payment, and no later than the month you turn 62. You still choose when to claim Social Security itself. Our guide to claiming Social Security at 62, 67 or 70 compares the trade-offs.

The earnings test: if you work after retiring, OPM cuts the supplement by $1 for every $2 you earn above Social Security's annual exempt amount. That amount is $24,480 for 2026 earnings (SSA) and $25,560 for 2027 earnings (91 FR 67380). Each year's earnings reduce the supplement for the 12 months starting the following July (5 U.S.C. 8421a). The basic annuity is never reduced.

Example: with a $1,350 supplement and $40,000 of wages in 2026, the cut is ($40,000 − $24,480) ÷ 2 = $7,760 a year, or $646.67 a month. That leaves $703.33 a month. Special-provision retirees are exempt from the test until they reach their MRA.

FERS COLA rules: no COLA before 62 and the diet COLA

FERS cost-of-living adjustments use the same CPI-W increase as Social Security and CSRS, but the formula trims it (5 U.S.C. 8462):

The last row is the real 2027 adjustment: OPM's COLA page lists 3.6% for CSRS retirees and 2.6% for FERS. Social Security beneficiaries got the same 3.6%, which the Social Security COLA calculator applies to your benefit.

Two more rules matter for early retirees. First, regular FERS retirees get no COLA while under 62. Someone who retires at 57 under MRA+30 receives the same dollar annuity for five years. Special-provision, disability and survivor annuitants are exempt from that wait. Second, your first COLA is prorated by the number of months you were retired before it took effect.

Is a FERS pension taxable?

Mostly, yes. The part of each payment that returns your own retirement contributions is tax-free, because you already paid tax on that money. IRS Publication 721 spreads it over your payments with the Simplified Method: your total contributions ÷ a number of months set by your age when the annuity starts.

Most employees hired before 2013 contribute 0.8% of pay, those covered as FERS-RAE (generally hired in 2013) 3.1%, and FERS-FRAE employees (generally hired from 2014) 4.4% (5 U.S.C. 8422). For example, $16,800 of contributions with an annuity that starts at 57 and no survivor annuity gives $16,800 ÷ 310 = $54.19 a month tax-free. With a survivor annuity and a 55-year-old spouse, the combined ages are 112, so it is $16,800 ÷ 360 = $46.67. The rest of each payment is ordinary income, reported each year on Form CSA 1099-R.

Pension income also counts toward the formula that decides how much of your Social Security is taxed. The taxable Social Security calculator shows the effect once both are paid.

Your TSP and Social Security are separate

The basic annuity is one of three parts of FERS. The other two follow their own rules:

• Thrift Savings Plan. The TSP works like a 401(k). Withdrawals from the traditional balance are taxed as ordinary income and reported on a separate Form 1099-R from the TSP (Publication 721). If you leave federal service in or after the year you turn 55, or at 50 in a public safety job, withdrawals from it avoid the 10% early-withdrawal tax (26 U.S.C. 72(t)(2)(A)(v) and (t)(10)). The 401(k) withdrawal calculator estimates the tax on a TSP withdrawal. Later on, the traditional balance becomes subject to required minimum distributions, which the RMD calculator figures.
• Social Security. You earn it on federal pay like any private-sector worker. The FERS pension does not reduce it.

For the rest of your retirement picture, from Roth conversions to claiming strategies, the retirement planning hub collects our other calculators.

Common mistakes in FERS retirement estimates

• Counting sick leave toward eligibility. It adds months to the computation, but it cannot get you to MRA+30 or 60+20.
• Leaving a few months before 62 with 20 years. You lose the 1.1% factor, which is 10% more pension for life.
• Expecting a supplement with MRA+10. There isn't one, and the age reduction is permanent.
• Using the SSA estimate as the exact supplement. OPM counts only federal earnings, so private-sector years make the real figure lower.
• Forgetting the COLA gap. Under the regular rules, an annuity that starts at 57 gets no inflation increase until 62.