How is the FERS pension calculated?

The FERS basic annuity is 1% of your high-3 average salary for each year of creditable service. If you retire at 62 or later with at least 20 years, the multiplier is 1.1%. Law enforcement officers, firefighters and air traffic controllers under special provisions get 1.7% for each of their first 20 years and 1% for each year after. Any fractional month of service is dropped. A $95,000 high-3 with 30 years of service gives 1% x 30 x $95,000 = $28,500 a year before any reduction.

How much is the MRA+10 reduction?

If you retire at your Minimum Retirement Age with 10 to 29 years of service, the annuity is reduced by 5/12 of 1% for each full month you are under 62, which is 5% a year. Retiring at 57 cuts it by 25%. The reduction does not apply with 30 years of service, or with 20 years at 60 or later. You can postpone the start of an MRA+10 annuity to reduce or avoid the cut.

What does the survivor benefit cost?

A survivor benefit equal to 50% of your annuity (the full benefit) reduces your annuity by 10%; a 25% survivor benefit (partial) reduces it by 5%. A married employee gets the full survivor benefit unless the spouse consents to less.

Is the FERS pension taxable?

Yes, federally, except the small part of each payment that returns your own retirement contributions, which IRS Publication 721 lets you recover tax-free under the Simplified Method. Most states also tax it, but several exempt some or all of a federal pension. This calculator adds the annuity to your other 2026 income and shows the federal and state tax it adds.

Who gets the FERS supplement?

An employee who retires on an immediate annuity not reduced for age before 62, such as at the MRA with 30 years or at 60 with 20 years. OPM estimates your Social Security benefit at 62 for a 40-year career and pays the share your FERS civilian service is of 40 years, until 62. An MRA+10, deferred or disability annuity gets no supplement, and earnings above Social Security's limit reduce it.

FERS Pension Calculator (2026)

Your federal retirement annuity under FERS: 1% of your high-3 average salary for each year of service (1.1% at 62 with 20 years), with the MRA+10 and survivor reductions, unused sick leave and the FERS supplement, under the rules OPM publishes.

Then the part an annuity statement leaves out: the 2026 federal and state income tax the pension adds to your return, and what it pays you a month after tax.

Your federal service

The annuity

High-3 average salary (yearly) Your highest 3 consecutive years of basic pay, averaged. Creditable service: years …and months Unused sick leave (hours) Adds to the service in the computation on an immediate annuity, not to eligibility. Birth year Sets your Minimum Retirement Age (55 to 57). Age when the annuity starts: years …and months Retirement provisions Survivor benefit Social Security estimate at 62 (monthly) For the FERS supplement only. From your Social Security statement.

The tax on it (2026 rules)

State you will live in Filing status Spouse’s age Social Security (yearly, gross, both of you) TSP / IRA withdrawals and other income (yearly) Tax-free part of the annuity (yearly, optional) Your own contributions coming back (Simplified Method), from OPM’s statement. Left at 0, the whole annuity is taxed.

The numbers filled in are an example. Replace them with yours.

Your FERS annuity

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The tax line is one full year of the annuity (and the supplement, if any) at 2026 tax law, added to the other income you entered: the household’s tax with the pension minus without it. A federal pension is passed to the state engine as a government pension, so a state that exempts one exempts it here.

A pension is one income of a retirement. Plan your TSP withdrawals, Social Security and the annuity together in the retirement planner →

The rules this uses, and what it leaves out

The annuity: OPM’s FERS computation (1%, 1.1% at 62 with 20 years, special provisions 1.7% for the first 20 years, the MRA+10 cut of 5/12 of 1% a month under 62, the 10% and 5% survivor reductions, fractional months dropped) and types of retirement (62+5, 60+20, MRA+30, MRA+10, special provisions at 50+20 or 25 years, the Minimum Retirement Age by birth year, the FERS supplement). The age reduction is applied first, then the survivor reduction, the order OPM’s CSRS/FERS Handbook, chapter 50 sets; the Minimum Retirement Age table is 5 U.S.C. 8412(h).
Sick leave: unused sick leave counts in full toward the computation of an immediate annuity, not toward eligibility (5 U.S.C. 8415(m)). It is converted at 2,087 hours to a year (OPM’s sick leave chart in Handbook chapter 50), added to your service, and any fractional month of the total is dropped.
The supplement: OPM computes a Social Security benefit from your FERS earnings, reduced as for a benefit starting at 62, and multiplies it by your FERS civilian service, rounded to the nearest whole year and at most 40, over 40 (Handbook chapter 51). This page uses the age-62 estimate you enter in place of OPM’s computed benefit, so its supplement is an approximation. It is paid until 62 on an immediate annuity not reduced for age; earnings above Social Security’s limit reduce it, and this page does not apply that test.
The tax: the 2026 federal return through QuantCalc’s federal tax engine and the state’s 2026 income tax through its state tax engine (how the state engine works). The tax-free return of your contributions (IRS Publication 721, Simplified Method) is what you enter; at 0 the estimate taxes the whole annuity and is slightly high.
Not included: cost-of-living increases (FERS annuitants get them from 62, special provisions earlier), CSRS or CSRS Offset service, military service deposits, part-time service proration, disability retirement, a postponed MRA+10 start, and FEHB and FEGLI premiums withheld from the annuity.

An estimate under OPM’s published rules and QuantCalc’s tax engine (federal and state engines for 2026). OPM’s own computation is the one that pays; check it with your agency’s retirement estimate.

Common questions

How is the FERS pension calculated?: The FERS basic annuity is 1% of your high-3 average salary for each year of creditable service. If you retire at 62 or later with at least 20 years, the multiplier is 1.1%. Law enforcement officers, firefighters and air traffic controllers under special provisions get 1.7% for each of their first 20 years and 1% for each year after. Any fractional month of service is dropped. A $95,000 high-3 with 30 years of service gives 1% x 30 x $95,000 = $28,500 a year before any reduction.
How much is the MRA+10 reduction?: If you retire at your Minimum Retirement Age with 10 to 29 years of service, the annuity is reduced by 5/12 of 1% for each full month you are under 62, which is 5% a year. Retiring at 57 cuts it by 25%. The reduction does not apply with 30 years of service, or with 20 years at 60 or later. You can postpone the start of an MRA+10 annuity to reduce or avoid the cut.
What does the survivor benefit cost?: A survivor benefit equal to 50% of your annuity (the full benefit) reduces your annuity by 10%; a 25% survivor benefit (partial) reduces it by 5%. A married employee gets the full survivor benefit unless the spouse consents to less.
Is the FERS pension taxable?: Yes, federally, except the small part of each payment that returns your own retirement contributions, which IRS Publication 721 lets you recover tax-free under the Simplified Method. Most states also tax it, but several exempt some or all of a federal pension. This calculator adds the annuity to your other 2026 income and shows the federal and state tax it adds.
Who gets the FERS supplement?: An employee who retires on an immediate annuity not reduced for age before 62, such as at the MRA with 30 years or at 60 with 20 years. OPM estimates your Social Security benefit at 62 for a 40-year career and pays the share your FERS civilian service is of 40 years, until 62. An MRA+10, deferred or disability annuity gets no supplement, and earnings above Social Security’s limit reduce it.