The calculator
$90,000 × 20 years × 1% is $18,000 a year: $18,000 a year. Immediate annuity, not reduced for age. Cost-of-living increases start at 62.
Your MRA is 57. Add this annuity to the monthly retirement income calculator.
FERS pension by years of service
Monthly annuity on a $90,000 high-3 for someone born in 1970 or later (MRA 57), before tax and any survivor benefit. With 20 years, starting at 62 instead of 60 adds the 1.1% rate: $1,650 a month. With 30 years the annuity is unreduced from the MRA: $2,250 a month at 57.
| Years of service | At 57 (MRA) | At 60 | At 62 |
|---|---|---|---|
| FERS after 5 years | Not yet | Not yet | $375 |
| FERS after 10 years | $563 (25% cut) | $675 (10% cut) | $750 |
| 15 years | $844 (25% cut) | $1,013 (10% cut) | $1,125 |
| FERS after 20 years | $1,125 (25% cut) | $1,500 | $1,650 |
| FERS after 25 years | $1,406 (25% cut) | $1,875 | $2,063 |
| FERS after 30 years | $2,250 | $2,250 | $2,475 |
| 35 years | $2,625 | $2,625 | $2,888 |
How the FERS annuity is calculated
The basic annuity is your high-3 average salary (the highest average basic pay over any three consecutive years) times your years of service times a multiplier. Service is counted in whole months.
- 1% a year if you retire before 62, or at 62 or later with less than 20 years.
- 1.1% a year if you retire at 62 or later with at least 20 years. OPM’s example: 20 years on a $90,000 high-3 is $19,800 a year at 1.1%, against $18,000 at 1%.
- Special provisions (law enforcement officers, firefighters, air traffic controllers and a few other groups): 1.7% for each of the first 20 years and 1% for each year after. 25 years on $90,000 is $35,100 a year.
- Unused sick leave adds to service for the computation, at 2,087 hours a year, on an immediate annuity. It cannot make you eligible or raise the high-3, but it can reach the 20 years the 1.1% rate needs.
When you can retire under FERS
- Unreduced: 62 with 5 years, 60 with 20 years, or your Minimum Retirement Age with 30 years.
- MRA+10: your MRA with 10 to 29 years, cut 5% for each year you are under 62 (5/12 of 1% a month). With 20 or more years the cut ends if the annuity starts at 60. You can retire at the MRA and postpone the start to shrink it.
- Deferred: leave with 5 or more years and the annuity can start at 62, or from the MRA with 10 years (reduced) or 30 years. It uses 1%, does not count sick leave and pays no supplement.
| Born | MRA |
|---|---|
| 1952 | 55 and 10 months |
| 1953 to 1964 | 56 |
| 1965 | 56 and 2 months |
| 1966 | 56 and 4 months |
| 1967 | 56 and 6 months |
| 1968 | 56 and 8 months |
| 1969 | 56 and 10 months |
| 1970 or later | 57 |
The FERS supplement
If your annuity starts before 62 and is not reduced for age (MRA with 30 years, or 60 with 20), FERS adds a supplement until 62 that stands in for the Social Security you cannot claim yet: your Social Security estimate at 62 times your FERS years divided by 40. On a $2,000 estimate, 30 years pays $1,500 a month. It is cut $1 for every $2 you earn above Social Security’s annual limit, and it is not paid on an MRA+10 or deferred annuity.
Survivor annuity, cost-of-living increases and tax
A 50% survivor annuity reduces your annuity by 10%, and a 25% one by 5%; a married retiree needs the spouse’s consent to take less. Regular FERS annuities get cost-of-living increases from 62; special-provision retirees get them from the start. The annuity is taxed as ordinary income except the part that returns your own contributions, and many states exclude some or all of it: see retirement taxes by state.
TSP and Social Security beside the pension
The annuity is one of three FERS pieces. Social Security can start at 62, and the TSP is yours whenever you leave. For retired pay from the military itself, use the military retirement calculator.
- Monthly retirement income calculator: add the annuity to Social Security and what your savings pay. Its pension calculator works for any plan’s formula.
- How long will my money last: how far your TSP and other savings stretch on top of the pension.
- Rule of 55 calculator: TSP withdrawals skip the 10% penalty if you leave in or after the year you turn 55 (50 for public safety employees).
- 72(t) calculator: penalty-free IRA payments before 59½ if you leave earlier.
- Social Security breakeven calculator: when to claim once the supplement stops at 62.
- Pension vs lump sum calculator: what a monthly pension is worth as a single payment.
Assumptions and sources
This is an estimate on OPM’s published FERS rules, not an OPM computation. It does not cover part-time service, CSRS components, disability retirement, military service deposits or the earnings test on the supplement, and service is counted in whole months. Use your agency’s retirement estimate or OPM’s figure for decisions. Checked 2026-11-04.
Figures checked on against OPM, FERS basic annuity computation, OPM, FERS retirement eligibility and Minimum Retirement Age, OPM, FERS types of retirement and the annuity supplement and OPM BAL 18-103, FERS unused sick leave and the 1.1% computation (PDF).