This FERS retirement calculator for federal employees turns a few career facts into a monthly check: your High-3 average salary, creditable service time in years and months, your unused sick leave, the age you leave, and your year of birth. Using the Office of Personnel Management’s rules, it shows which door you qualify for, the gross pension after reductions, the survivor election cost, and the bridge payment to Social Security. The defaults describe someone born in 1969 who leaves at 57 with 30 years and a $95,000 High-3.
FERS Retirement Calculator
Estimate your FERS basic annuity, age and survivor reductions, and the special retirement supplement from your High-3, service, and retirement age.
Estimates use OPM's published formulas and the 2026 Social Security earnings limit. They are gross figures before tax, FEHB, and FEGLI premiums, and do not model COLAs, deferred or disability retirement, or CSRS service. Your agency's retirement office and OPM make the official computation. This is an educational tool, not financial or legal advice.
Understanding Your FERS Pension Formula
Congress created the Federal Employees Retirement System in 1986, and it took effect January 1, 1987; federal employees hired since then are covered by it. FERS is a three part retirement plan: a basic benefit, Social Security, and the Thrift Savings Plan. Some longtime staff remain under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), which this tool does not model.
The basic FERS formula fits on one line. High-3 times years of service times a factor. The factor is 1% for most people, rising to 1.1% if you retire at age 62 or later with at least 20 years of service. At the defaults, the FERS basic annuity comes to $95,000 x 30 x 1% = $28,500 a year, or $2,375 a month. Move the same person to 62 with 25 years and the math becomes $95,000 x 25 x 1.1% = $26,125 a year ($2,177.08 a month), which is $2,375 more per year than the 1% factor pays on identical service.
| Years of service | Yearly benefit at 1% (under 62) | Yearly benefit at 1.1% (62 or older, 20+ years) |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | $19,000 | $20,900 |
| 25 | $23,750 | $26,125 |
| 30 | $28,500 | $31,350 |
| 35 | $33,250 | $36,575 |
Figures assume a $95,000 High-3; each year of service adds $950 or $1,045.
High-3 Average Salary, Creditable Service, and Leave Credit
Your High-3 is the highest average basic pay you earned over any three consecutive years of service. For a typical federal employee that means the final three years of service. Locality pay counts, because federal law treats it as basic pay for retirement. Overtime, bonuses, and awards do not.
Your years of creditable service run from your service computation date and include military service once you pay the deposit, 3% to 3.4% of military basic pay depending on when you served. OPM counts full months of service and drops odd days, so the months field matters.
That leave balance converts at 2,087 hours per year and is added to your length of service for the formula only. It can never make you eligible to retire. It can, however, lift you over the 20 year line for the 1.1% factor: OPM’s Benefits Administration Letter 18-103 confirms that a retiree at 62 with fewer than 20 actual years qualifies once the leave pushes the total to 20. The calculator is designed to apply that rule. Unused annual leave is different; it pays out as a lump sum and adds no service.
When Can You Retire? MRA and Retirement Annuity Eligibility
Your minimum retirement age depends on the year you were born:
| Year of birth | Earliest voluntary age |
|---|---|
| Before 1948 | 55 |
| 1948 to 1952 | 55 and 2 months to 55 and 10 months |
| 1953 to 1964 | 56 |
| 1965 to 1969 | 56 and 2 months to 56 and 10 months |
| 1970 and after | 57 |
The age and service requirements then decide what kind of immediate retirement you get:
| Age | Service | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 62 | 5 years | No age cut |
| 60 | 20 years | No age cut, supplement to 62 |
| MRA | 30 years | No age cut, supplement to 62 |
| MRA | 10 to 29 years | Cut 5% per year under 62 |
| 50 (early out or special provisions) | 20 years | No age cut |
| Any age (early out or special provisions) | 25 years | No age cut |
Leave with at least 5 years before you meet any row and you get a deferred retirement: the check starts later, sick leave credit is lost, and no supplement is paid. The calculator flags that case; if you might return to federal service, ask HR how it affects your options.
The Special Retirement Supplement Until Social Security
Retire before 62 on an unreduced annuity and OPM adds a monthly supplement meant to stand in for the Social Security you earned as a federal employee. It equals your estimated full career benefit at 62 times your civilian years divided by 40. OPM’s own example: a $1,000 estimate with 30 years of service pays $750. At the defaults, $1,800 x 30/40 = $1,350 a month, bringing the total to $3,725 until it stops at the end of the month you turn 62.
Years round to the nearest whole year, with a half rounding up. Military time is excluded even if you bought it back. And OPM runs the estimate on federal earnings only, so a decade in the private sector makes your SSA statement overstate it.
An earnings test applies too. Wages above the exempt amount, $24,480 for 2026, cut the supplement $1 for every $2 over. Earn $40,000 and the reduction is ($40,000 minus $24,480) / 2 = $7,760 a year, or $646.67 a month, leaving $703.33. The pension itself is never touched by earnings.
MRA+10, Survivor Annuity, and COLA Rules
Leaving at your minimum age with 10 years of service is the costliest door. The check drops by 5/12 of 1% for each full month you are under 62, or 5% a year. An annuity based on only 15 years at 57 would see $14,250 cut 25% to $10,687.50, about $890.63 a month, with no supplement. Postponing the start to 62 (or to 60 with 20 years) erases the cut, which is why many federal employees in that position separate and wait.
A survivor benefit election is the other big lever. A full election leaves your spouse 50% and reduces your check by 10%; a partial one leaves 25% for a 5% cost. On the default $28,500, the full option costs $237.50 a month and leaves $2,137.50. Your spouse must consent in writing to anything less than full.
Raises work differently than for Social Security. Regular FERS retirees get no COLA until 62, even after the annuity begins; special provisions and disability retirees get them sooner. For 2026, FERS retirees received 2.0% while CSRS retirees received 2.8%.
Special Provisions, Early Outs, and FERS Disability Retirement
Law enforcement officers, air traffic controllers, and anyone serving as a firefighter under special provisions earn 1.7% of High-3 for the first 20 years and 1% after that. They can go at 50 with 20 years or at any age with 25 years of service. A 50 year old with 25 years and a $95,000 High-3 draws $37,050 a year ($3,087.50 a month) plus a supplement that starts right away, with no earnings test before the minimum retirement age.
An early retirement through VERA or discontinued service uses the same age and service combinations with no age cut, but the factor stays at 1% and the supplement waits until your minimum age.
FERS disability retirement needs 18 months of civilian service plus medical approval, and a disability annuity is computed under a separate formula. This tool does not model it; OPM’s computation page covers the rules.
Complete Retirement Income: Pension, TSP, and Social Security
At 30 years and 1%, the federal pension replaces 30% of your salary base. The rest of your retirement income has to come from your TSP balance at retirement and from Social Security. Each year you push the retirement date adds service at retirement, another year of TSP contributions, and one fewer year of withdrawals. Use our FERS tool as a calculator to determine that trade in dollars at a few different ages.
For a detailed retirement projection, a current federal employee should request an annuity estimate from the agency benefits office and compare it with OPM’s Federal Ballpark E$timate. Treat our output as a retirement roadmap, not a final number. If your case involves a military deposit, a CSRS component, or a court order dividing federal retirement benefits, a planner offering comprehensive retirement and financial planning services for federal employees, or an attorney who can specialize in federal benefits, is worth the fee. This FERS retirement calculator gives you the baseline for that conversation.
Questions About FERS and Federal Benefits
Does locality pay count in the High-3?
Yes. It is part of basic pay for retirement purposes. Overtime and cash awards are not.
Can I work after retirement and keep my pension?
Yes. The annuity continues after federal employment ends, whatever you earn in the private sector. Only the supplement faces the earnings test.
Is this free FERS estimate my official annuity?
No. OPM computes the final figure from your records. Use this as a planning estimate and check it against your agency’s projection.
Figures reviewed September 2026 against OPM’s published FERS rules and the 2026 Social Security earnings limit. Estimates are gross, before tax and insurance premiums. This page is educational and is not financial, tax, or legal advice.