Case 1
- High-3 average salary
- 100000$
- Creditable service — years
- 30
- Creditable service — months
- 0
- Age at separation
- 60
30,000.00$
Open with these valuesFERS Retirement Calculator
30,000.00$ per year
Result: 30,000.00 $ per yearThe FERS basic annuity is 1 % of your high-3 average salary for every year of creditable service, and 1.1 % if you separate at age 62 or later with at least 20 years. A high-3 of 100,000 with 30 years pays 30,000 a year; the same career ending at 62 pays 33,000.
The numbers at a glance
Held fixed: High-3 average salary 100,000.00 $, Creditable service — years 30, Creditable service — months 0.
| Age at separation | Result ($) |
|---|---|
| 50 | 30,000.00 |
| 53 | 30,000.00 |
| 55 | 30,000.00 |
| 58 | 30,000.00 |
| 60Your value | 30,000.00 |
| 63 | 33,000.00 |
| 65 | 33,000.00 |
| 68 | 33,000.00 |
| 70 | 33,000.00 |
Worked examples
Case 2
- High-3 average salary
- 100000$
- Creditable service — years
- 20
- Creditable service — months
- 0
- Age at separation
- 62
22,000.00$
Open with these valuesCase 3
- High-3 average salary
- 53221$
- Creditable service — years
- 31
- Creditable service — months
- 2
- Age at separation
- 60
16,587.23$
Open with these valuesHow it's calculated
annuity = high-3 × (years + months ÷ 12) × 1 % — or × 1.1 % at 62 with 20 years
- StepEnter your high-3: the highest average basic pay over any three consecutive years.
- StepAdd up creditable service, drop the leftover days, and enter whole years and months.
- StepEnter your age at separation — 62 with 20 years is what lifts the rate to 1.1 %.
- ResultRead the annual basic annuity. OPM pays it monthly: divide by 12, rounded down.
What this number means
The FERS basic annuity is one multiplication, and the whole question is which rate goes into it. OPM's general formula pays 1 % of your high-3 average salary for each year of creditable service, and 1.1 % if you separate at age 62 or later with at least 20 years behind you. Both conditions have to hold: leaving at 63 with 18 years is still 1 %, and leaving at 61 with 30 years is still 1 %. Where the rule applies it is worth a tenth of the annuity for life — 100,000 and 30 years is 30,000 a year at 1 %, 33,000 at 1.1 %. Two details decide the cents. Service counts in whole years and months, with the leftover days dropped rather than rounded, so 31 years 2 months 16 days is entered as 31 and 2. And OPM does not multiply by the raw fraction: its accrual charts round the factor to six decimals, and this page rounds the same way, which is why it reproduces the handbook's worked examples to the cent. What comes out is the unreduced annuity. Everything OPM subtracts afterwards sits outside this number: the survivor election costs 10 % of the base you choose, an MRA+10 retirement loses 5 % for each year you are under 62, and the FERS annuity supplement, the TSP and Social Security are separate money entirely.
This is the annuity before every reduction
A full survivor annuity costs 10 % of the base you elect, and retiring under MRA+10 costs 5/12 of 1 % for each month you are under 62. Both are applied after the figure shown here.
Age 62 plus 20 years is a 10 % raise for life
The rate moves from 1 % to 1.1 % only when both conditions hold at separation. On a 100,000 high-3 with 20 years that is 20,000 against 22,000 a year.
Days are dropped, not rounded
Total your creditable service, then drop the leftover days: 31 years 2 months 16 days is entered as 31 years and 2 months. Unused sick leave adds to FERS service under separate rules.
The factor is a published table, rounded to six decimals
Charts 6 and 7 of the CSRS/FERS Handbook give the factor for each combination of years and months. 31 years 2 months is .311667, not 0.31166…, and this page rounds the same way.
Commonly misread
My high-3 is my final salary.
It is the highest average of your basic pay over three consecutive years — usually the last three, but not always. Overtime and bonuses are not basic pay.
I retired at 63 with 18 years, so I get 1.1 %.
Both conditions must hold at separation: age 62 or older AND at least 20 years of creditable service. With 18 years the rate stays at 1 %.
This is what will land in my bank account.
It is the unreduced annual annuity. A survivor election, an MRA+10 age reduction, tax and insurance premiums all come off afterwards.
Reference table
| Age at separation | Creditable service | Accrual rate |
|---|---|---|
| Under 62 | Any length | 1 % of high-3 per year |
| 62 or older | Under 20 years | 1 % of high-3 per year |
| 62 or older | 20 years or more | 1.1 % of high-3 per year |
Questions
How is the FERS annuity calculated?
Multiply your high-3 average salary by your years and months of creditable service and by 1 % a year. The rate is 1.1 % instead if you separate at age 62 or later with at least 20 years of service.
What is the high-3 average salary?
It is the highest average basic pay you earned during any three consecutive years of service, usually the final three. Basic pay includes shift rates and other pay that retirement deductions are withheld from, but not overtime or bonuses.
When do I get the 1.1 percent rate?
Only when both conditions hold on the date you separate: you are at least 62, and you have at least 20 years of total creditable service. Special-provision retirements — law enforcement, firefighters, air traffic controllers, congressional employees — are computed under their own formulas instead.
Does this include the survivor annuity reduction?
No. The figure is the unreduced basic annuity, the same line the OPM worksheets label that way. Electing a full survivor annuity reduces it by 10 % of the base you choose, and a half survivor annuity by 5 %.
What about the FERS supplement and the TSP?
Neither is part of the basic annuity. The retiree annuity supplement is paid separately until age 62 to people who retire before then with an immediate unreduced annuity, and the TSP is your own account.
How do I turn this into a monthly payment?
Divide the annual annuity by 12 and round down to the next lower dollar — that is the step OPM's own worksheet takes. An annuity of 16,587.23 a year is 1,382 a month before any reduction.
Sources and last check
Information, not financial advice.