RMD Percentage by Age Chart 2026 (Printable) + Calculator

RMD percentage by age — full chart

Read across from your age: the middle column is the IRS distribution period (the divisor), the right-hand column is the same thing expressed as the percentage of your balance you must take out. Example: $500,000 at age 75 ÷ 24.6 = $20,325, which is 4.07% of the balance.

Print this chart Prints as a clean one-sheet reference — no navigation, no buttons.

Born in 1950 or earlier? Your RMDs began at age 72, where the divisor is 27.4 and the percentage is 3.65%. Age 120 is the last row in the table; its divisor applies at 120 and above.

Prefer the divisor-first version? It is on the 2026 RMD Uniform Lifetime Table page, with a CSV download. The same figures are published as a machine-readable dataset (JSON + CSV).

Why the IRS gives you a divisor instead of a percentage

The Uniform Lifetime Table is a life-expectancy table. For each age it gives a distribution period — roughly the number of years the account is expected to be spread over — and the rule is to divide your prior December 31 balance by that number. Turning it into a percentage is one step of arithmetic: percentage = 100 ÷ divisor. Because the distribution period shrinks as you age, the percentage rises: 3.77% at 73, 4.95% at 80, 6.25% at 85, 8.20% at 90.

Two consequences worth planning around. First, the percentage is applied to whatever the balance happens to be, so a strong market year raises next year's required withdrawal. Second, the withdrawal is ordinary income, which means it lands on top of Social Security and pensions — it can raise the taxable share of your benefits and push your income across an IRMAA threshold two years later.

The years before your start age are the window where the size of every future RMD is still under your control, because the required amount is driven by the balance. Anything that shrinks the pre-tax balance early — Roth conversions, qualified charitable distributions, voluntary withdrawals — reduces every RMD that follows. The RMD age calculator tells you how many of those years you have left.

Common questions

What percentage of my IRA do I have to withdraw at 73, 75 and 80?

At age 73 the IRS divisor is 26.5, so the required withdrawal is 3.77% of your prior year-end balance. At 75 the divisor is 24.6, which is 4.07%. At 80 the divisor is 20.2, which is 4.95%. The percentage is simply 1 divided by the divisor, and it rises every year because the divisor falls.

Is the RMD a percentage or a divisor?

The IRS publishes a divisor, not a percentage. The Uniform Lifetime Table gives a distribution period for each age, and your RMD is your prior December 31 balance divided by that number. The percentage everyone looks for is derived from it: percentage = 1 divided by the divisor. Both columns are in the chart on this page so you do not have to do the division yourself.

What happens if I do not take my RMD?

The shortfall — the amount you should have withdrawn but did not — is subject to a 25% excise tax. The SECURE 2.0 Act reduced that from the previous 50%, and it drops further to 10% if you withdraw the missed amount and file the correction return within the correction window the Act allows. Withdrawing the shortfall as soon as you notice it is what starts that clock.

Does the RMD percentage change every year?

Yes. The divisor falls with age, so the required percentage climbs: 3.77% at 73, 4.07% at 75, 4.95% at 80, 6.25% at 85, and 8.20% at 90. That rising percentage is applied to a balance that is also changing, so the dollar amount can grow faster than the percentage alone suggests.