United States · Federal Employee Retirement
Estimate your federal government pension (FERS Basic Annuity) using your High-3 average salary, years of creditable service, and planned retirement age.
Fill in your details and press Calculate my pension to see your estimated FERS annuity.
This is an educational estimate of the FERS Basic Annuity only (High-3 × Years of Service × Multiplier), based on standard OPM rules. It does not include the FERS Supplement, TSP savings, Social Security, survivor-benefit elections, special-provision (law enforcement / firefighter / air traffic control) formulas, or COLAs. For your official annuity estimate, contact your HR office or OPM.
This USA Pension Calculator estimates the federal employee pension (FERS Basic Annuity), which equals High-3 average salary × years of creditable service × a multiplier of 1.0% (or 1.1% if you retire at age 62 or later with at least 20 years of service). For example, a $95,000 High-3 salary with 25 years of service at a standard retirement produces $95,000 × 25 × 0.01 = $23,750 per year ($1,979/month). Use the calculator above to run your own numbers instantly.
This USA Pension Calculator is built for civilian federal employees covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). Your pension — officially the FERS Basic Annuity — is calculated with a fixed, public formula set by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). This page explains exactly how that formula works, walks through the eligibility rules, and lets you calculate your own estimated monthly annuity using the calculator above.
This USA pension calculator is built around FERS, the retirement system for most U.S. federal civilian employees hired since 1987. FERS has three parts working together: the FERS Basic Annuity (a lifetime monthly pension paid by your agency), the Thrift Savings Plan (a 401(k)-style investment account), and Social Security (the same national program most American workers pay into). This calculator estimates only the first part — the Basic Annuity — since that’s the piece with a fixed, predictable formula.
The FERS Basic Annuity formula has three inputs, multiplied together:
Divide the result by 12 to get your monthly annuity. Each of the three inputs is explained below.
Your High-3 is the average of your highest 36 consecutive months of basic pay — not your final salary, and not your highest 3 non-consecutive years. It’s based on basic pay only; overtime, bonuses, awards, and night differential are excluded. For most employees, the High-3 period is their final three years, but if you moved from a higher-paying position or locality earlier in your career, an earlier period could produce a higher High-3.
Creditable service includes all federal civilian service under FERS, plus any military time for which you’ve made a deposit to “buy back” that service. Unused sick leave is added to your service computation for the purpose of increasing your annuity amount, but it does not count toward meeting the years-of-service thresholds required for eligibility.
Most FERS retirees use a 1.0% multiplier.
Most FERS retirees use a 1.0% multiplier. You qualify for the enhanced 1.1% multiplier — a 10% larger pension for life — only if both of these are true at retirement: you are age 62 or older, and you have at least 20 years of creditable service. (Special-provision employees — law enforcement officers, firefighters, and air traffic controllers — use a different formula, 1.7% for their first 20 years, which this calculator does not cover.)
Your MRA is the earliest age you can retire under FERS with an immediate annuity (assuming you also meet a service requirement below).
| Birth Year | Minimum Retirement Age |
|---|---|
| Before 1948 | 55 |
| 1948 | 55 years, 2 months |
| 1949 | 55 years, 4 months |
| 1950 | 55 years, 6 months |
| 1951 | 55 years, 8 months |
| 1952 | 55 years, 10 months |
| 1953 – 1964 | 56 |
| 1965 | 56 years, 2 months |
| 1966 | 56 years, 4 months |
| 1967 | 56 years, 6 months |
| 1968 | 56 years, 8 months |
| 1969 | 56 years, 10 months |
| 1970 or later | 57 |
To receive an immediate, unreduced FERS annuity, you need one of these age-and-service combinations:
MRA with 30+ years of service — the most common path
Age 60 with 20+ years of service
Age 62 with 5+ years of service — and you get the enhanced 1.1% multiplier if you also have 20+ years
If you have 10–29 years of service and have reached your MRA but don’t meet one of the paths above, you can still retire under a rule known as MRA+10 — but with a permanent penalty, explained next.
Retiring under MRA+10 reduces your annuity by 5% for every full year you are under age 62 at the time payments start (5/12% per month). Retiring at 57 instead of 62, for example, means a permanent 25% reduction — not just until you turn 62, but for life. You can avoid this reduction entirely by postponing the start of your annuity payments until age 62, though you’ll receive nothing in the meantime and may lose access to federal health benefits (FEHB) during the gap.
Enter your date of birth — the calculator uses it to look up your MRA.
Enter your High-3 average salary — your highest 36 consecutive months of basic pay.
Enter your years of creditable federal service, including any bought-back military time.
Slide to your planned retirement age.
Press Calculate my pension to see your estimated monthly and annual annuity, your eligibility status, and a full breakdown of the math.
Standard retirement at 60: High-3: $100,000 | Years of service: 25 | Multiplier: 1.0% (under 62) → Annual pension: $25,000 ($2,083/mo)
Enhanced retirement at 62+: High-3: $85,000 | Years of service: 25 | Multiplier: 1.1% (62+ with 20+ yrs) → Annual pension: $23,375 ($1,948/mo)
Maria joined federal service at 28, spent most of her career in a mid-level role, then earned a promotion at 55 that significantly raised her pay for her final 4 years. Her High-3 captures those higher-paid final years, not her career average — which is why timing a promotion (or a locality move) before retirement can meaningfully raise your annuity, even without adding extra years of service. Numbers: High-3 $88,000, 30 years of service, retires at 60 → $88,000 × 30 × 1.0% = $26,400/year ($2,200/month).
David reaches his MRA of 56 with 15 years of service. He doesn’t meet any of the standard immediate-retirement paths, so he retires under MRA+10. Because he’s 6 years under age 62, his annuity is permanently reduced by 30% (5% × 6 years). Numbers: High-3 $75,000, 15 years, 1.0% multiplier → base $11,250/year, reduced 30% → $7,875/year ($656/month) for life, unless he delays the start to age 62 to avoid the cut.
Special-category employees (law enforcement, firefighters, air traffic controllers) use a 1.7% multiplier for their first 20 years instead of the standard 1.0%. This calculator doesn’t compute that formula — check with your agency’s HR office if you fall into a special-provision category.
Federal employees build retirement income from three separate sources, and it’s easy to confuse them. FERS Basic Annuity (this calculator) is a guaranteed monthly pension from your agency based on salary, service, and age.
Social Security is the separate national program that federal employees also pay into and can claim starting at 62.
The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) is your personal investment account, similar to a 401(k), and its value depends on contributions and investment growth rather than a fixed formula. A complete retirement income estimate combines all three.
If you retire before age 62 under an immediate FERS retirement, you may also qualify for the FERS Supplement — a temporary payment that approximates the Social Security benefit you earned during your federal service, paid until age 62. It is not included in this calculator and is subject to an earnings test; check with your HR office for an estimate specific to your record.
If you were hired before 1984, you may be in CSRS (Civil Service Retirement System) instead of FERS — the two systems calculate pensions very differently, and it’s a common point of confusion.
| FERS | CSRS |
|---|---|
|
Who’s in it Hired 1987 or later (or opted in) |
Hired before 1984 (mostly) |
|
Pension formula High-3 × Years × 1.0%–1.1% |
High-3 × Years × 1.5–2.0% (tiered) |
|
Social Security Yes, pays in and earns benefits |
No, generally not covered |
|
TSP matching Yes, agency matches up to 5% |
No agency matching (can still contribute) |
|
Typical pension size Smaller, offset by Social Security + TSP |
Larger standalone pension |
A USA pension calculator is a tool that estimates the retirement income a worker will receive from a U.S. pension system. Because the United States has several separate systems — Social Security for most workers, and FERS for federal civilian employees — a USA pension calculator typically focuses on one system’s official formula. This calculator uses the FERS Basic Annuity formula: High-3 average salary × years of service × multiplier.
The FERS Basic Annuity equals your High-3 average salary multiplied by your years of creditable service multiplied by a multiplier of 1.0%, or 1.1% if you retire at age 62 or later with at least 20 years of service.
It depends on your High-3 salary and retirement age. At a 1.0% multiplier, 20 years of service produces 20% of your High-3 as an annual pension (for example, $80,000 High-3 × 20 × 1.0% = $16,000/year). At 62+ with 20 years, the 1.1% multiplier raises that to $17,600/year.
Only basic pay counts — your highest 36 consecutive months of it. Overtime, bonuses, awards, and night differential are excluded.
Yes, if you are at least age 60. Age 60 with 20+ years of service qualifies for an immediate, unreduced annuity. With fewer years or before age 60, other eligibility rules and possible reductions apply.
MRA+10 lets you retire once you reach your Minimum Retirement Age with at least 10 (but fewer than 30) years of service. Starting your annuity immediately under this option permanently reduces it by 5% for every year you are under age 62.
Yes, if you make a deposit to “buy back” that active-duty time. Without the deposit, military service generally does not count toward your FERS annuity computation.
Yes. Unlike the older CSRS system, FERS employees pay Social Security taxes and earn Social Security benefits alongside their FERS pension and TSP savings.
Yes, FERS annuity payments are subject to federal income tax, and to state income tax depending on where you live. A small portion representing your own after-tax contributions is typically tax-free.
Most FERS retirees receive cost-of-living adjustments only starting at age 62, and FERS COLAs are calculated slightly differently from — and are often smaller than — Social Security COLAs.
