TRS retirement calculator (Texas)
Work out your Teacher Retirement System of Texas annuity from your membership group, 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 in group 1 with 25 years of service credit, your TRS annuity before tax:
$4,792 a month
That is 2.3% a year of service x 25 years = 57.5% of an average pay of $100,000, or $57,500 a year, shown in today's money.
It takes $1,437,500 off the pot you need: $312,500 instead of $1,750,000 to stop work for good at 60 on $70,000 a year.
60 + 25 = 85, which meets the Rule of 80 (age plus service credit of at least 80), so the annuity is not reduced.
The pot covers the $12,500 a year the annuity leaves, at a 4% withdrawal rate.
The statute pays its cost-of-living adjustments (Sections 824.702 and 824.703) only to members who had already retired by a set date, so this page counts none for you. A fixed annuity buys less each year as prices rise: at 2.5% a year of inflation a flat amount buys about 39% less after 20 years (an illustration, not a forecast). Showing it flat in today's money assumes it keeps up with prices, which is the generous assumption, not a cautious one.
A planning figure from the statute, not your TRS estimate: your own TRS account has that.
Not modeled: the law as it stood before September 1, 2005, which still governs a member who on or before August 31, 2005 had attained age 50, or had age plus service credit of 70 or greater, or had at least 25 years of service credit (it averaged the highest 3 years, not 5, and has its own early-retirement rules; S.B. 1691, 2005, Section 58(b)).
Also not modeled: the payment options (an annuity that provides for a survivor), the partial lump-sum option and the deferred retirement option plan, cost-of-living adjustments, Social Security, buying service credit, members who left TRS and came back, how TRS counts service in other Texas public retirement systems toward your group, and income tax.
Not modeled either, for the wait: 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.
The statute says the Rule of 80 is met when age plus service credit "equals the number 80"; this page reads that as 80 or more, as TRS's Benefits Handbook does ("at least 80").
Your own TRS estimate uses the pay and service TRS 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.
An annuity in your fifties changes the number
An annuity 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.
Retiring below the age your group needs for the full annuity costs a share of it, and each extra year of service adds 2.3 percent of your average pay. Try a few ages and the age you stop paid work: the pot you need is worked out for that age.
Questions people ask
- How is a TRS annuity worked out?
- The Texas Government Code (Section 824.203) sets the standard annuity at 2.3 percent of your average annual compensation, for each year of service credit. The average is over the 5 years of service in which you were paid the most, and the standard annuity is never less than $150 a month. An early annuity is a reduction of that, minimum included. A member grandfathered before September 1, 2005 (on or before August 31, 2005 aged 50, or with age plus service of 70 or greater, or with 25 years of service credit) stays under the older law, which averaged 3 years; this page does not work that out.
- When can I retire from TRS?
- It depends on your membership group. In every group a standard annuity starts at 65 with 5 years of service credit, or on the Rule of 80, where your age plus your years of service credit reach 80: from any age for the first group, from 60 for the second and from 62 for the third. Below that age the annuity is smaller, and under 55, without the Rule of 80 or 30 years of service credit, there is none. This page works out the result for the age and the service you enter.
- Is this my TRS estimate?
- No. It is a planning figure from the statute and the numbers you type in. For an estimate that uses the pay and service TRS has on record for you, use your own TRS account. That is the figure 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 annuity starts?
- The statute works the standard annuity on the average of the 5 years of service in which you were paid the most, and its cost-of-living sections (824.702 and 824.703) reach only members who had already retired by a set date. So pay you do not earn after you leave adds nothing, and no raise reaches you, while you wait. This page holds your average pay at the day you leave and shows the annuity in today's money after the inflation you set for the wait: an assumption of yours, not a figure from TRS. If prices rise faster than that, the annuity is worth less than shown.
- What does the annuity do to the savings I need?
- An annuity 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: the Texas Government Code Ch. 824 (Sections 824.202 and 824.203, plus 824.702 and 824.703 on cost-of-living adjustments), read on October 27, 2026, and the 2005 act, S.B. 1691 (2005) for the members grandfathered that year. TRS's own wording for the Rule of 80 (“at least 80”), the membership groups and the grandfathered members' three-year average is in its Benefits Handbook (September 2025 edition, pages 27 to 35 of the PDF), read on October 28, 2026. For your own estimate, see your account at TRS.