FERS & CSRS PENSION,
EXPLAINED AND ESTIMATED

Quick answer: a federal pension (annuity) is computed from three things — your retirement system, your high-3 average salary (generally your highest-paid 36 consecutive months of basic pay), and your years of creditable service. Under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), the basic annuity is generally 1% of high-3 per year of service (1.1% at age 62 or later with 20+ years). Under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), the formula is tiered: 1.5% for the first 5 years, 1.75% for the next 5, and 2% beyond 10, generally capped at 80% of high-3. The estimator below applies exactly those published formulas to the numbers you enter — nothing more.

Looking for when you may be able to retire instead of how much the formula produces? That’s a different question — use our retirement timing calculator for timeline education.

• Retirement system: FERS and CSRS use different statutory formulas; the system on your SF-50 controls.
• High-3 average salary: the average of your highest-paid 36 consecutive months of basic pay. Overtime, most bonuses, and allowances generally do not count. Your agency computes the official figure.
• Years and months of creditable service: civilian service plus credited additions — completed military deposits and, at retirement, unused sick leave. Days that don’t make a full month are dropped in official computations.
• Age at retirement: only used here to pick the FERS 1% vs. 1.1% factor and to warn when reductions may apply. It never changes the CSRS tiers.

To stay accurate to what the published formulas can actually support, this tool assumes an immediate, unreduced annuity and does not model: MRA+10 or early-retirement age reductions, survivor-election reductions, the FERS annuity supplement, CSRS offset, special-provision factors (law enforcement, firefighters, air traffic controllers, certain military reserve technicians), part-time proration, unpaid deposits or redeposits, taxes, or cost-of-living adjustments. Each of these can materially change an actual benefit, and each is determined by your agency and OPM — not by any website. Tax questions belong with a qualified tax professional.

Federal employees reviewing their retirement picture often ask about Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) payouts. In general terms: FEGLI is group term life insurance; the payout (death benefit) is paid to the beneficiaries on file under the statutory order of precedence, and the amount depends on the coverage the employee or retiree elected and, after age 65 in retirement, on the reduction schedule chosen. Claims are generally filed with the Office of Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance using OPM’s claim form after the employing agency or OPM verifies coverage.

This is general education only — not insurance, legal, or tax advice, and not a promise of any payout amount. Benefit Reviews is not affiliated with OPM or the FEGLI program and does not recommend any insurance product. For an individual coverage or claim question, contact your employing agency’s benefits office (or OPM for retirees), review OPM’s official FEGLI pages, and consider an appropriately licensed insurance or legal professional. Beneficiary designations are legal documents worth reviewing with your agency after major life events.

The annuity formula is one piece: your service total can grow through a military deposit and unused sick leave, your timing shapes which factor applies, and leaving federal service early raises the deferred retirement question. The Retirement Road Map organizes all of it before you talk with your HR office or an independent, licensed professional — who is separate from Benefit Reviews and whose services we don’t guarantee.