FERS retirement FAQ

1% × high-3 average salary × years of creditable service. Retire at 62 or later with 20+ years and the multiplier becomes 1.1%. A qualifying special-provision retirement uses 1.7% for up to 20 years of covered service and 1% for other creditable service, covered service over 20 years, and sick-leave credit. Example: high-3 of $100,000 with 25 years at age 60 = $25,000/year. The same person retiring at 62 with 27 years at 1.1% would receive $29,700/year. Run your own numbers.

The average of your highest-paid 36 consecutive months of basic pay — usually (not always) your last three years. It includes locality pay but not overtime, bonuses, or most premium pay. Your HR office computes the official figure from your pay records.

For an immediate annuity, unused sick leave converts to extra service credit in the computation at 2,087 hours = 1 year. It cannot be used to reach eligibility. OPM does not credit unused sick leave in a deferred annuity.

The full survivor benefit (50% of your annuity to your survivor for life) costs 10% of your annuity. The partial benefit (25%) costs 5%. Married retirees get the full benefit by default unless the spouse notarizes a waiver — and a survivor annuity is generally required for a spouse to keep FEHB after your death.

The supplement estimates the Social Security benefit earned during FERS service. Planning estimate: your age-62 Social Security benefit × ((rounded civilian FERS years, capped at 40) ÷ 40). Someone with 30 years and a $1,800 age-62 benefit gets about $1,350/month. It ends around age 62 under OPM's month-of-entitlement rules. An eligible VERA retiree starts receiving it at MRA. It is not paid under MRA+10 or deferred retirement.

$24,480. Wages or self-employment income above that amount reduce the supplement by $1 for every $2 over. TSP withdrawals, pensions, and investment income do not count. For retirees receiving the supplement under special retirement provisions, the earnings test begins at MRA.

VERA is available only when an agency has authority and offers it to an employee. The age and service requirements are age 50 with 20 years, or any age with 25 years. The FERS annuity has no age reduction, but it is based on the service completed at retirement. An eligible retiree starts receiving the supplement at MRA.

Retire at your MRA with 10–29 years and your annuity is cut 5% for every year you're under 62 (5/12% per month) — permanently. A 57-year-old with 12 years loses 25%. You can postpone the annuity start date to shrink or eliminate the reduction, and resume FEHB when payments begin.

With 5+ years of civilian service you can take a deferred annuity: at 62 (5–19 years), 60 (20–29), or your MRA (30+). Your high-3 is frozen at separation, there's no supplement, and you permanently lose FEHB. The alternative — withdrawing your FERS contributions — forfeits the annuity entirely and is rarely worth it after a few years of service.

Deferred means you left before qualifying for an immediate annuity. Benefits start later, unused sick leave is not credited, and FEHB cannot be reinstated. Postponed means you qualified under MRA+10 but delayed the start to reduce or avoid the age reduction. FEHB can be reinstated when the annuity starts if you met the coverage requirement.

Generally, yes, if you retire on an immediate annuity and were enrolled in FEHB for the 5 years before retirement, or for all service since your first opportunity to enroll if that period was shorter.

Not until age 62 for regular retirees. From 62, FERS pays a "diet COLA": full CPI when inflation is ≤2%, a flat 2% when CPI is 2–3%, and CPI minus 1% when it's above 3%. Our projections apply these rules automatically.

No. FERS Report is an independent educational tool operated by MyVIP Tickets LLC. We implement the formulas OPM publishes, and we link to official sources in our methodology. Official determinations always come from your agency and OPM.

The free calculator runs in your browser. If you buy a paid report, the inputs needed for that report are sent securely so we can email your PDF and keep your access link usable later. We don't ask for your agency login or SSN. Payment is handled by Stripe; we never see your card details.

The estimate depends on the information you enter and the assumptions described in our methodology. Your official computation can differ because of part-time service, military deposits, unpaid breaks, premium-pay rules, and other details in your service record. Verify the result with your agency before filing.