CalSTRS retirement calculator
Work out your CalSTRS retirement benefit from your benefit structure, the age you retire and your years of service credit, and how much it lowers the savings you need to stop work for good.
Retiring at 60 under CalSTRS 2% at 60 (25 years of service credit), a planning figure before tax:
$4,167 a month
That is 2% a year of service x 25 years = 50% of a final compensation of $100,000, or $50,000 a year, shown in today's money.
It takes $1,250,000 off the pot you need: $500,000 instead of $1,750,000 to stop work for good at 60 on $70,000 a year.
The pot covers the $20,000 a year the benefit leaves, at a 4% withdrawal rate.
At 60 on CalSTRS 2% at 60 the age factor in CalSTRS' table is 2% a year of service.
CalSTRS adds an automatic 2% of your initial benefit each year, not compounded, and, when funds allow, tops the benefit up if its buying power falls below 85% of the initial benefit. This page counts neither: it shows the benefit flat in today's money, which assumes it keeps its full buying power. That is the generous assumption, not a cautious one.
For the figure that counts, use myCalSTRS, where you can calculate retirement estimates in your own member account; CalSTRS' own calculator takes the figures you type.
Not modeled: the benefit options (a benefit that provides for a survivor), the annual benefit adjustment and purchasing power protection, the Defined Benefit Supplement and Cash Balance programs, buying service credit, the cap on the pay that counts under 2% at 60 (it depends on when you joined), any longevity bonus, programs that change how you retire, concurrent retirement from another California system, Social Security, and income tax.
Also not modeled: your service changing between the day you stop work and the day the benefit starts (the page adds none: it uses the service you type), and prices rising faster or slower than the inflation you set for that wait.
Your own CalSTRS estimate uses the pay and service CalSTRS has on record: it is the figure to trust over this one.
The link carries your figures after the #, so you can save or share it. Your figures are not sent to us.
A teacher pension in your fifties changes the number
A benefit that starts when you stop work is a yearly income your savings never have to provide, at the amount it starts at. At the 4% rule each dollar of it is 25 dollars less in the pot; when the pot that has to last to 100 is larger than the withdrawal-rate pot, that pot is used instead.
The age factor rises with the age you retire, up to 2.4% at age 63 under CalSTRS 2% at 60 and at age 65 under CalSTRS 2% at 62; with 30 or more years of earned service credit under CalSTRS 2% at 60, a 0.2% career factor reaches 2.4% at 61 and six months. Try a few ages and months, and the age you stop paid work: the pot you need is worked out for that age. CalSTRS adds an automatic 2% of the initial benefit each year, which this page does not count.
Questions people ask
- How is a CalSTRS retirement benefit worked out?
- Your age factor times your years of service credit times your final compensation. The age factor is the percentage of final compensation you earn for each year of service credit. It depends on your benefit structure and on your age in years and months when your retirement takes effect. Under 2% at 60 (not 2% at 62), the career factor adds 0.2% to the age factor, up to the 2.4% maximum, for 30 or more years of earned service credit; up to two-tenths of a year of unused sick leave may be used to qualify for it.
- Which CalSTRS structure am I in?
- It mostly depends on when you were first hired to perform CalSTRS creditable activities: CalSTRS 2% at 60 for members first hired on or before December 31, 2012, and CalSTRS 2% at 62 for members first hired on or after January 1, 2013. The Handbook also puts these members in CalSTRS 2% at 60: those who were CalSTRS members before 2013, terminated their membership and then returned to active membership on or after January 1, 2013; those who performed service that could be credited to the Defined Benefit Program and were subject to coverage under a different retirement system, including Social Security, on or before December 31, 2012; those who were members of a concurrent retirement system on or before December 31, 2012, and who performed service under that system within six months of becoming a CalSTRS member. Your CalSTRS statement or myCalSTRS shows which applies.
- Which months count as final compensation?
- CalSTRS 2% at 60: your highest average annual compensation earnable over 12 consecutive months with 25 or more years of service credit, 36 months with fewer. The Handbook leaves some service out of the 25 years (unused sick leave beyond two-tenths of a year, nonqualified service and Retirement Incentive Program credit). Eligible classroom teachers may use 12 months with fewer years if it is in a written collective bargaining agreement, all costs are paid by the employer or the employee, or both, and the agreement was not entered into, extended, renewed or amended after January 1, 2014. CalSTRS 2% at 62: 36 consecutive months, and pay above $191,866 a year (the cap for July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027, adjusted each July) does not count.
- Is this my CalSTRS estimate?
- No. It is a planning figure from CalSTRS' published rules and the numbers you type in. For an estimate from your own account, use myCalSTRS, where members can calculate retirement estimates; CalSTRS' own calculator takes the figures you type. The myCalSTRS figure is the one to trust. If you stop work before it starts, it is the amount paid at the start, not today's money, so it reads higher than this page's figure, by the inflation you set compounded over the wait.
- What if I stop work years before my benefit starts?
- The Handbook defines final compensation as your highest average annual compensation earnable during any period of 12 or 36 consecutive months, and the annual benefit adjustment starts only after you retire. So pay you do not earn after you leave, and an adjustment you do not yet get, add nothing while you wait. This page holds your final compensation at the day you leave and shows the benefit in today's money after the inflation you set for the wait: an assumption of yours, not a figure from CalSTRS. If prices rise faster than that, the benefit is worth less than shown.
- What does the benefit do to the savings I need?
- A benefit that is running by the time you stop work is a yearly income your savings never have to provide. At the 4% rule each dollar of it is 25 dollars less in the pot; when the pot that has to last to 100 is larger than the withdrawal-rate pot, that pot is used instead.
Sources, read on October 28, 2026: Member Handbook, benefit structures, final compensation, pay limits.