FERS Retirement Calculator
Estimate your FERS pension annuity using the official OPM formula: High-3 Average Salary × Years of Creditable Service × Multiplier. Enter your birth year, service dates, salary, and sick leave hours to see your gross annuity, net annuity after survivor benefit, FERS Supplement eligibility, and a full calculation breakdown.
FERS Retirement Calculator · 2026
High-3 × Years × Multiplier · 1.1% rule · sick leave credit · survivor benefit · FERS Supplement
Enter your High-3 salary, years of service, and birth year to estimate your FERS pension.
How to Calculate Your FERS Pension
The FERS retirement annuity is calculated using one straightforward formula set by the Office of Personnel Management: High-3 Average Salary × Years of Creditable Service × Multiplier. Three variables determine your entire baseline pension. The multiplier is almost always 1.0%, but jumps to 1.1% for employees who retire at age 62 or older with at least 20 years of creditable service, a meaningful difference worth planning around.
The Three FERS Pension Variables
1. High-3 Average Salary
Your High-3 is the average of your highest 36 consecutive months of basic pay. For most employees this is the final three years before retirement, when salaries typically peak. Basic pay includes your base salary and locality pay, but excludes overtime, bonuses, awards, night differential pay, and Sunday premium pay. Employees who held a higher-graded position earlier in their career should verify whether an earlier 3-year period produced a higher average.
2. Years of Creditable Service
Creditable service includes all periods of federal employment covered by FERS. Fractional months are included proportionately. Unused sick leave is converted into additional service credit at a rate of 2,087 hours per year and added to your total service before applying the pension formula. Sick leave credit cannot help you meet retirement eligibility requirements (you need the actual age and service combination first), but it can meaningfully increase your annuity once you qualify.
Military time purchased ("bought back") through a redeposit also adds to creditable service. For employees who had prior CSRS service before transferring to FERS, the CSRS component is calculated separately under CSRS rules and added to the FERS component.
3. The Multiplier: 1.0% or 1.1%
The standard multiplier is 1.0%. The enhanced 1.1% multiplier applies only when both conditions are met simultaneously at retirement: age 62 or older AND 20 or more years of creditable service. Age alone is insufficient, you must have the service years. Service years alone are insufficient, you must have reached 62. This distinction matters for planning: an employee retiring at 61 with 25 years uses 1.0%, while the same employee retiring the day they turn 62 uses 1.1%, a 10% increase in pension income for life.
FERS Retirement Eligibility Requirements
| Retirement Type | Age Requirement | Service Requirement | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Immediate, unreduced | MRA | 30+ years | Full annuity, FERS Supplement |
| Immediate, unreduced | 60 | 20+ years | Full annuity, FERS Supplement |
| Immediate, unreduced | 62 | 5+ years | Full annuity, no Supplement needed |
| MRA+10 (reduced) | MRA | 10–29 years | 5% per year under 62 penalty |
| MRA+10 (postponed) | MRA to 62 | 10+ years | Penalty reduced or eliminated |
| VERA / DSR | 50 | 20+ years | Full annuity, FERS Supplement |
| VERA / DSR | Any | 25+ years | Full annuity, FERS Supplement |
| LEO / FF / ATC | 50 | 20+ years | 1.7% multiplier for first 20 years |
Minimum Retirement Age (MRA) by Birth Year
| Born | MRA | Born | MRA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before 1948 | 55 years | 1965 | 56 years, 2 months |
| 1948 | 55 years, 2 months | 1966 | 56 years, 4 months |
| 1949 | 55 years, 4 months | 1967 | 56 years, 6 months |
| 1950 | 55 years, 6 months | 1968 | 56 years, 8 months |
| 1951 | 55 years, 8 months | 1969 | 56 years, 10 months |
| 1952 | 55 years, 10 months | 1970 and after | 57 years |
| 1953–1964 | 56 years |
Sick Leave Credit: Free Service Time at Retirement
Unused sick leave is one of the most underutilized FERS benefits. At retirement, OPM converts your full sick leave balance into additional months and days of creditable service at a rate of 2,087 hours per year. That additional service credit directly increases your annuity calculation.
| Unused Sick Leave Hours | Additional Service Credit | Example Annuity Impact (High-3 $90K, 25yr) |
|---|---|---|
| 500 hours | ~2 months, 26 days | +$214/yr |
| 1,000 hours | ~5 months, 22 days | +$428/yr |
| 1,500 hours | ~8 months, 18 days | +$643/yr |
| 2,087 hours | 1 full year | +$900/yr |
* Impact calculated at 1.0% multiplier. Unlike annual leave (paid out as a lump sum), sick leave adds to your pension forever.
The FERS Special Retirement Supplement
The FERS Special Retirement Supplement (also called the Special Retirement Supplement or SRS) is an additional payment made to eligible FERS retirees who separate from federal service before age 62. It approximates the Social Security benefit you earned during your federal career and is paid until you reach age 62, when Social Security eligibility begins.
Who Qualifies
- Employees who retire at MRA with 30+ years of service
- Employees who retire at age 60 with 20+ years of service
- VERA or DSR retirees (at MRA for DSR, or immediately for VERA)
- LEO, firefighter, and ATC retirees eligible for immediate annuity
MRA+10 retirees (those retiring with 10–29 years of service) are specifically excluded from the supplement. Employees who transfer from CSRS must have at least one full calendar year of FERS-covered service to qualify.
Earnings Limit (2026)
The supplement is subject to the same Social Security earnings test. If your post-retirement wages or self-employment income exceed $24,480 in 2026, the supplement is reduced by $1 for every $2 of excess earnings. The supplement terminates entirely when you reach age 62, regardless of whether you choose to claim Social Security at that point.
Survivor Benefits and Other Annuity Reductions
Your gross FERS annuity can be reduced by two types of elections made at retirement:
Survivor Benefit Election
If you elect to provide a survivor annuity to your spouse, your pension is permanently reduced. The full survivor benefit (50% of your annuity to your spouse after your death) costs 10% of your gross annuity. The partial option (25% to spouse) costs 5%. This reduction is permanent, it applies for the rest of your life, regardless of whether your spouse predeceases you or you divorce. On a $30,000 gross annual pension, the full survivor benefit election reduces your annual income to $27,000 for life. Your spouse keeps the 50% ($15,000/yr) if you die first.
FEHB Premium Deductions
Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) premiums are deducted from your pension if you continue FEHB coverage into retirement. To maintain FEHB coverage in retirement, you must have been enrolled in an FEHB plan for at least the 5 years immediately before retirement (or since your first opportunity to enroll). Premium amounts vary by plan and are deducted pre-tax from your pension.