This military retirement calculator estimates your gross monthly pension from three facts: the plan that covers you, your grade for the final three years, and the whole years you’ll serve. It prices those years against the basic pay table effective January 1, 2026, applies the official multiplier, and rounds down to the dollar, the way the Defense Finance and Accounting Service pays. Think of it as a calculator to estimate retired pay for any service member leaving active duty with 20 to 40 years. Already know your real average? Enter it and the table is skipped.
Military Retirement Calculator
Estimate monthly retired pay under High-3, BRS, CSB/REDUX, or Final Pay from your pay grade and years of service, using the 2026 DFAS basic pay table.
Estimates use the 2026 DFAS basic pay table, the same grade for your final three years, and official multipliers for regular active duty retirement. Actual pay depends on your exact service dates and pay history, reserve points, disability ratings, and elections such as SBP or the BRS lump sum. DFAS computes the official figure. This is an educational tool, not financial or legal advice.
Which Military Retirement Plan Covers You?
Your plan is fixed by your DIEMS, the date of initial entry to military service: the first day you entered uniformed service in any capacity. It never changes, even if you leave and rejoin. Your Pay Entry Base Date can differ, so don’t mix them up.
| Plan | Who it covers | Base | Multiplier per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Final Pay retirement plan | First entry before Sept. 8, 1980 | Rate on your last day | 2.5% |
| Legacy High-3 retirement plan | First entry Sept. 8, 1980 through Dec. 31, 2017, no bonus | High-36 average | 2.5% |
| REDUX retirement plan | Entered Aug. 1, 1986 or later and took the Career Status Bonus | High-36 average | 2.5% minus 1 point per year under 30, restored at 62 |
| Blended Retirement System | First entry Jan. 1, 2018 or later, or opted in during 2018 | High-36 average | 2.0% |
One correction. Military OneSource describes the High-3 tool as the one for people who joined between Sept. 8, 1980, and July 31, 1986. The DoD eligibility chart is broader: anyone who entered on or after Aug. 1, 1986, and never took the bonus is also on High-36.
Pay Base Times Multiplier: The Whole Formula
Every regular plan uses one formula: pay base times service multiplier equals gross retired pay. Under High-36 the base is the average of your highest 36 months of basic pay. Under the Final Pay retirement system it’s simply the rate on your last day. Legacy multipliers are 2.5% a year, so 20 years earns 50% and 30 earns 75%. There’s no ceiling at 75% anymore: DoD’s own chart shows 40 years at 100% and 41 at 102.5%.
Take the calculator’s default, an E-7 leaving at exactly 20 years. Those final 36 months fall in service years 18, 19, and 20. On the 2026 military pay chart, base pay for year 18 is the over 16 rate of $6,000.90, and the next two use the over 18 rate of $6,177.30. The average is $6,118.50. Half is $3,059.25, rounded down to $3,059 a month, or $36,708 a year.
Plenty of online tools grab the over 20 column instead ($6,245.70) and quote $3,122. That’s $63 a month too high, because someone with exactly 20 years never draws the over 20 rate during the months that count.
Two limits: the tool assumes one grade for all three years, and it prices every month at the 2026 table though earlier months paid older, lower rates. Read the output as 2026 dollars.
Estimated Military Retirement Pay by Grade, 2026
Rows assume one grade for the final three years and the January 2026 table. I recomputed every row by hand from the published rates, and the calculator’s test suite checks them to the dollar. Your estimated retirement pay is the gross column for your plan.
| Pay grade | Years | High-36 average | Legacy 2.5% monthly | Blended 2.0% monthly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| E-6 | 20 | $5,243.00 | $2,621 | $2,097 |
| E-7 | 20 | $6,118.50 | $3,059 | $2,447 |
| E-8 | 22 | $6,934.00 | $3,813 | $3,050 |
| E-9 | 26 | $8,645.50 | $5,619 | $4,495 |
| W-4 | 24 | $9,522.70 | $5,713 | $4,570 |
| O-4 | 20 | $10,473.80 | $5,236 | $4,189 |
| O-5 | 20 | $11,606.30 | $5,803 | $4,642 |
BRS, the Thrift Savings Plan, and the Lump Sum
The Blended Retirement System trades half a point of multiplier per year for government money in the Thrift Savings Plan. The service adds 1% of basic pay automatically after 60 days and matches up to another 4% from after your second year through your 26th. All three legacy retirement systems pay 2.5%. Over a 20 year career the half-point cut costs 10 points of pension: $612 a month for the E-7 above.
BRS retirees can also take a discounted lump sum worth 25% or 50% of the pension in exchange for a reduced monthly payment until full retirement age. For checks starting in 2026, DoD’s discount rate is 6.46%, steep enough that the upfront cash is worth well under the payments you give up. Continuation pay is a one-time mid-career bonus for serving longer.
REDUX and the Career Status Bonus at 15 Years
REDUX was optional for members who entered service on or after Aug. 1, 1986: accept a $30,000 Career Status Bonus at 15 years of service, commit to 20, and live with a smaller pension. Benefits under the REDUX retirement system run 2.5% a year minus one point for every year short of 30, so 20 years of service yields 40% instead of 50%. At 62 the multiplier resets, and a one-time adjustment restores the raises lost to REDUX’s CPI minus 1 COLA; after that the reduced COLA returns. Elections closed on Dec. 31, 2017. For our E-7, that’s $2,447 a month until 62 and $3,059 afterward, in 2026 dollars.
How VA Disability Compensation Interacts With Your Pension
Your pension and VA disability pay normally can’t stack. Federal law (38 U.S.C. 5304 and 5305) makes you waive retired pay dollar for dollar to receive compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs. The exception, Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay (CRDP), lets a longevity retiree with a combined VA rating of 50% or higher collect both in full. Combat-Related Special Compensation is a separate program for combat-related disabilities. VA amounts, including special monthly compensation for the most serious conditions, come from the VA’s own rate tables and aren’t modeled here.
Reserve, National Guard, and Medical Retirement
Reserve component and National Guard careers count points, not calendar years. DFAS converts them at 360 points per year, so 7,200 points equals 20 years and a 50% multiplier. Non-regular checks follow their own start rules, so use this page as a multiplier check only.
Military medical retirement works differently too. If your service finds you unfit with a DoD disability rating of at least 30%, the multiplier is the higher of that rating, capped at 75%, or your years times 2.5% (2.0% under the blended plan). The medical separation or retirement decision belongs to the service, and the official medical retirement calculators handle those cases.
After the First Check: COLA, SBP, and Taxes
Retired military pay rises each year with the CPI-W, the same index behind Social Security’s raise. For 2026 that increase was 2.8%; REDUX retirees got 1.8%. The Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) is the other lever: covering a spouse reduces your check in exchange for a lifetime annuity to your survivor, chosen at retirement. Federal income tax applies to the military pension as well. Account for all three before you plan for retirement around the gross number.
This Military Retirement Calculator vs the Official DoD Tools
The Military Compensation and Financial Readiness site, run by the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Personnel and Readiness, hosts the official set: a High-3 calculator, a Final Pay calculator, a REDUX calculator, a BRS calculator, the RMC calculator for Regular Military Compensation, and the SCAADL calculator for members who need caregiver help. That .gov website asks for your pay entry date, promotions, and TSP assumptions year by year, then projects retirement benefits across a career.
Your next step: run this military retirement calculator with your real grade and exit year, then again at two more years. The gap between the two answers is the price of leaving early, and it’s the number future military retirees most often underestimate. Then ask your finance office for a formal estimate before you set a date.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is E-7 retirement pay with 20 years?
About $3,059 a month under High-36 at 2026 rates, or $2,447 under the blended plan. That’s gross monthly pay, before taxes or SBP.
What is the average pension after 20 years?
It depends on grade. At 2026 rates, 20 years puts an E-6 at $2,621 a month, an E-7 at $3,059, and an O-5 at $5,803 on the 2.5% formula.
Which pay table does the estimate use?
The DFAS tables effective January 1, 2026, which carried a 3.8% raise for all grades. The calculator moves to the 2027 table once it’s published.
Is this tool free, and does it keep my data?
It’s free, and nothing you enter is saved.
Last reviewed September 2026: pay tables effective January 1, 2026; 2026 COLA 2.8%; 2026 BRS lump sum discount rate 6.46%. Educational estimates only, not financial or legal advice. DFAS computes your official pension.