How to use this calculator
- Enter your birth date. Your birth year sets your minimum retirement age (MRA).
- Enter the month and year your current, unbroken FERS civilian service began: the date of the appointment on your SF-50, or ask your agency's benefits specialist. The service computation date for leave on your leave and earnings statement is a different date: it can include military time and other earlier service, so using it can overstate your civilian years. Enter any military time you have bought back separately, under More options.
- Choose the month you plan to retire. Your last day is taken as that month's last day, and the pension starts the first day of the next month, so one month earlier or later can change which rule applies and whether you get the supplement.
- Enter your unused sick leave in hours, from your leave and earnings statement.
- Enter your basic pay now: your salary including locality pay, before overtime, bonuses and awards.
- Choose the survivor benefit you plan to elect for your spouse, and choose "I’ll work after retiring" if you expect wages or self-employment income before 62.
If you would retire under MRA+10 or leave before your MRA, a "Start the pension" field appears so you can postpone the pension. Under More options you can change your yearly raises (2.5% by default), enter the high-3 from your agency's retirement estimate, add military service you have bought back, and enter your first full year's pay for a closer supplement. The numbers already filled in are an example, not typical figures. Replace them with your own.
How it's calculated
1. Service and the retirement rule
The example reader was born June 15, 1970, started on July 1, 1996 and retires at the end of June 2027. Service is counted from the first day to the last in years, months and days, with every month counted as 30 days, as OPM counts it: 31 years. At 57, the reader has reached the MRA of 57 with at least 30 years, so the pension under the Federal Employees Retirement System is immediate and unreduced, and starts on July 1, 2027.
The 800 hours of sick leave now grow by 4 hours for each full two-week pay period to 864 hours at retirement. OPM's chart, 2,087 hours to a year, turns that into 4 months and 29 days, added to the service the pension is figured on; the part of a month left over is dropped, which gives 31 years and 4 months.
2. The high-3 and the pension
The high-3 is the highest average of your basic pay over any three consecutive years of service, each rate weighted by how long it was in effect. Because pay usually rises, the calculator takes it to be the 36 months before you leave (enter your agency's figure under More options if yours differs). With $110,000 now and raises of 2.5% each January, it is $108,055. The pension is 1% of the high-3 for each year of service, and for each twelfth of a year: 31 years and 4 months is a factor of .313333, so $33,857.20 a year. A full survivor benefit costs 10% of it, $3,385.72, leaving $30,471.48 a year. A twelfth of that, rounded down to the dollar as OPM pays it, is $2,539 a month. Your spouse would be paid $1,410 a month after your death.
3. The supplement
The supplement is figured as a Social Security benefit at 62, as if the reader were 62 on January 1, 2027. Each full calendar year of service counts at its basic pay; the years before service, and the part year of hire, are filled in from the first full year's pay compared with the national average wage. Each year is indexed to average wages, and the 30 highest of the 35 years from age 22 average $6,947 a month, the average indexed monthly earnings. Social Security's formula turns that into a primary insurance amount of $3,000.20, reduced to $2,100 for a claim at 62. 31 years of civilian service over 40 gives $1,627 a month, paid from July 2027 to June 2032: 60 payments, $97,620 in all.
Work after retiring reduces only the supplement. The earnings test takes half of what you earn above Social Security's lower exempt amount in the months the supplement is paid, and withholds it from the supplement over July to June of the next year. Earning $60,000 a year in today's dollars, the example reader would be paid $38,256 of supplement in all.
4. Increases from 62
The pension gets no cost-of-living adjustment before 62, and the supplement never gets one. From the first December you are 62, the pension rises by inflation up to 2%, by 2% when inflation is 2% to 3%, and by inflation less 1% above that, the first increase prorated for the months the pension was paid. At 2.5% inflation the example pension becomes $2,589 a month in December 2032.
5. MRA+10 and postponing
With 10 to 29 years at the MRA, the pension is cut by 5/12 of 1% for each full month it starts before 62, unless you have 20 years and it starts at 60 or later. The same reader with 17 years of service would get $1,059 a month starting at once, reduced 24.6% for 59 months, and no supplement. Postponing the start to June 14, 2030 cuts the reduction to 10.0%, $1,264 a month; starting two days before the 62nd birthday removes it, $1,404 a month. OPM's application instructions ask for a start date on the first of a month, so confirm your date with OPM or your agency's benefits office.
Assumptions and limits
- One continuous period of full-time FERS civilian service from the date entered, with no break of more than 3 days, no leave without pay over 6 months a year, and no refunded service. Part-time service would prorate the pension; breaks and refunds change both the service and the supplement's earnings record.
- Basic pay changes once a year, on January 1, by the rate entered. A promotion or step increase partway through the high-3 would change it.
- Earlier pay is estimated from today's: it is assumed to have tracked the national average wage, growing 2.0% a year faster unless you change it. OPM uses your actual pay record.
- No sick leave is used between now and retiring; 4 hours are added for each full two-week pay period.
- The supplement's amount is figured as if you were fully insured for Social Security, as the law requires; its end date assumes you will be.
- For a supplement starting in a year whose wage figures are not yet published, national average wages are projected at 2.5% a year, so it is an estimate; OPM uses the published figures.
- Work income after retiring is earned evenly through each year, grows with average wages, and counts only from the month the supplement starts.
- Cost-of-living increases use the inflation entered and FERS's rule; actual increases follow the CPI each year.
- A pension that starts partway through a month pays part of that month; the monthly amounts shown are full months.
- Amounts are before income tax, health and life insurance premiums, and any court-ordered payment to a former spouse.
- Postponing an MRA+10 pension changes your insurance: health coverage can be continued for 18 months at the full premium plus 2%, and life insurance cannot be continued until the pension starts. A deferred retiree cannot re-enroll in health, life, dental or vision coverage.
- Military service counts only if your deposit is paid; buying it back can require waiving military retired pay, which this calculator does not model.
- The survivor choice is for a spouse; former-spouse and insurable-interest elections differ. The survivor benefit shown is before cost-of-living increases.
What this calculator does not do
It does not cover CSRS, CSRS Offset or FERS transferees with a CSRS component; special-provision retirement for law enforcement officers, firefighters, air traffic controllers, nuclear materials couriers, Capitol and Supreme Court Police and CBP officers; Members of Congress and congressional staff; disability retirement; discontinued-service and voluntary early retirement (VERA); phased retirement; part-time service, breaks in service, or refunded or non-deduction service; the military retired-pay waiver; former-spouse and insurable-interest survivor elections; the alternative form of annuity; income tax on the pension; health and life insurance premiums; reemployed annuitants; or your Thrift Savings Plan. It does not yet take a supplement figure from your agency's estimate in place of its own.
To see whether your savings will last with this pension, use the retirement calculator. To decide when to claim Social Security, which the supplement stops short of, use the Social Security calculator.
Input field details
What to enter in each box, where to find the number, and how this calculator treats it. When two calculators give different answers from the same numbers, it's usually because they handle one of these differently.
Your birth year and month
The year and month you were born.
How this tool treats itYour minimum retirement age (MRA) comes from your birth year: 55 if you were born before 1948, rising two months a year to 56 for 1953 to 1964, then two months a year to 57 for 1970 and later. You reach an age on the day before your birthday.
Allowed range1950 to 2008
Your birth day
The day of the month you were born.
How this tool treats itIt sets the day you reach each age, the last month of the supplement (the month before you can first get Social Security), and the first December your pension can get a cost-of-living increase. A day past the month’s end is read as its last day.
Year and month your current FERS service began
When your current, unbroken FERS civilian service began.
Where to find itThe appointment date on your SF-50 (Notification of Personnel Action), or your agency’s benefits specialist. Not the service computation date for leave on your leave and earnings statement, which can include military time and other earlier service.
How this tool treats itCreditable service is counted from this date to the last day of your retirement month, in years, months and days, with every month counted as 30 days, as OPM counts it. Bought-back military time goes under More options, not here.
Not includedBreaks in service, part-time service, refunded service and service under CSRS.
Day it began
The day of the month your service began.
How this tool treats itService that begins on January 1 makes that calendar year a full year of federal pay for the supplement; any later day makes the next January the first full year.
Year and month you plan to retire
The month of your last day of work.
How this tool treats itYour last day is the month’s last day, and an immediate pension starts the first day of the next month. Your age and service on that last day decide the retirement rule: 62 with 5 years, 60 with 20, your MRA with 30, or your MRA with 10 (MRA+10). If you leave with at least 5 years but before you qualify for any of those, the pension is a deferred retirement: it can start at 62, or from your MRA with at least 10 years, and a deferred pension has no supplement and no credit for sick leave.
Your basic pay now
Your yearly basic pay today.
Where to find itYour leave and earnings statement or your latest SF-50.
How this tool treats itBasic pay includes locality pay. It leaves out overtime, bonuses and awards. Your pay is taken to rise on January 1 each year by the raises you enter, and your earlier pay is estimated from today’s by the national average wage.
Raises per year until you retire
How much your basic pay goes up each year, on average, from now until you retire.
How this tool treats itApplied on January 1 each year. The calculator takes your high-3 to be your last 36 months of basic pay, which is usually the highest-paid three years, so raises near the end count the most.
Unused sick leave now
Your sick leave balance in hours.
Where to find itYour leave and earnings statement.
How this tool treats itFour hours are added for each full two-week pay period until you retire, with none used. At retirement, OPM turns the balance into service with its 2,087-hours-a-year chart and adds it to the service your pension is figured on. It does not count toward eligibility or the high-3, and it does not count for a deferred pension. At 62 or older it does count toward the 20 years that raise the multiplier to 1.1%.
Allowed range0 to 8,000 hours
Survivor benefit for a spouse
The survivor benefit you plan to elect for your spouse.
How this tool treats itA full survivor benefit pays your spouse 50% of your pension and costs 10% of it; a partial one pays 25% and costs 5%. Both come off your pension after any age reduction. The supplement is not reduced. A married employee gets the full benefit unless the spouse consents to less.
Not includedFormer-spouse and insurable-interest elections.
I’ll work after retiring
Choose this if you expect wages or self-employment income while the supplement is paid.
How this tool treats itThe FERS supplement is paid with an immediate pension under the 60-with-20 or MRA-with-30 rules until 62. It estimates the Social Security you earned in federal service: a benefit at 62 figured from your federal basic pay, with the years before your service estimated from your first full year’s pay, times your years of FERS civilian service over 40. National average wages after 2025 are projected, so a supplement starting in a later year is an estimate. MRA+10 and deferred pensions have no supplement, and it gets no cost-of-living increases.
Yearly earnings from work after retiring, in today’s dollars
Your expected yearly wages and self-employment income, in today’s dollars.
How this tool treats itThe earnings test counts only what you earn in the months the supplement is paid, earned evenly through the year. Half of the amount over Social Security’s lower exempt amount ($23,400 for 2025, $24,480 for 2026, $25,560 for 2027) comes off the supplement, spread over July to June of the year after you earned it, so excess earned in the last months before 62 may never be taken. The pension itself is never reduced.
Start the pension
When you want an MRA+10 or deferred pension to start.
How this tool treats itAn MRA+10 pension, retiring at your MRA with 10 to 29 years, is reduced 5% for each year (5/12 of 1% for each full month) it starts before 62, unless it starts at 60 or later with 20 years. You can postpone it, from the first day of the month after you leave up to two days before your 62nd birthday, to reduce or remove the cut; a postponed pension still counts your sick leave. Health coverage can be continued for 18 months at the full premium plus 2% while you wait, and life insurance cannot be continued until the pension starts.
Chosen starting age
The age, in years and months, you want the pension to start.
How this tool treats itA start before the earliest allowed date, or after the latest, is moved to that date and the page says so.
My high-3 average (override)
Your high-3 average salary from your agency’s retirement estimate, or leave it at 0.
Where to find itYour agency’s retirement estimate.
How this tool treats itThe high-3 is the highest average of your basic pay over any 3 years in a row, usually the last 3, with each rate weighted by how long it was in effect. It is used for the date you entered; the other dates in the chart scale it by your raises. The supplement still uses the pay you entered.
Military service you’ve bought back
Military service you have paid the deposit for, in years and months.
How this tool treats itIt counts toward eligibility and the pension, not toward the 5 years of civilian service every pension needs and not toward the supplement.
Not includedWaiving military retired pay to credit the service.
How fast your pay grew compared with average wages
How much faster than the national average wage your pay grew each year before now.
How this tool treats itUsed to estimate your earlier federal pay, which sets the supplement. OPM uses your actual pay record.
My basic pay in my first full calendar year of service (override)
Your basic pay in your first full January-to-December year of FERS service, or leave it at 0.
Where to find itYour SF-50s or leave and earnings statements from that year.
How this tool treats itThe years before your service are filled in as that year’s pay compared with the national average wage, applied to each earlier year’s national average wage.
My supplement from my agency’s estimate (override)
The monthly FERS supplement on your retirement estimate, or leave it at 0.
Where to find itYour agency’s or OPM’s retirement estimate.
How this tool treats itIt replaces this calculator’s figure, which is still shown beside it. The earnings test, the supplement’s start and end dates and the totals all apply to your figure, and the other dates in the chart scale it by how this calculator’s estimate changes with the date. With an MRA+10 or deferred pension, or retiring at 62 or later, no supplement is paid, so it is ignored.
Inflation for cost-of-living increases
The inflation rate you expect.
How this tool treats itFERS’s cost-of-living increase follows inflation up to 2%, is 2% when inflation is from 2% to 3%, and is inflation less 1% above 3%. The pension gets none before 62; the first comes the December 1 on or after you reach 62, prorated by the months it was paid, and each increase is at least $1 a month.
Show in today’s dollars
Choose this to show later amounts at today’s prices.
How this tool treats itEach year’s amounts are divided by the inflation you entered, compounded from this year.
Questions
How is the FERS supplement calculated?
Does the FERS supplement get cost-of-living increases?
Does unused sick leave count toward FERS retirement eligibility?
Should I postpone an MRA+10 pension?
When does the 1.1% FERS multiplier apply?
Does working after I retire reduce my FERS pension?
Why is my supplement different from my Social Security estimate divided by 40 times my years?
Version history
- November 7, 2026 (version 1.0.0): First version: your FERS pension at a retirement date you choose, with MRA+10 postponement, sick leave and the survivor reduction, and the supplement until 62, from your federal pay or your agency's estimate.