The CalSTRS Defined Benefit formula is service credit × age factor × final compensation = monthly member-only allowance, annualised. Enter your years of service credit, your age at retirement, your final compensation and the age factor from your own CalSTRS benefit structure, and this page multiplies them. Which benefit structure you are in — 2% at 60 or 2% at 62 — changes the age factor at every age, so that is the first thing to establish.
Before you use this: get your actual age factor, from the right structure. CalSTRS members fall into one of two benefit structures. CalSTRS 2% at 60 generally covers members who joined before 1 January 2013; CalSTRS 2% at 62 covers members first hired on or after that date under PEPRA. The names describe the age at which the factor reaches 2% — and at every other age the two structures produce different factors, along with different normal retirement ages, different minimum retirement ages, and different final compensation periods. A member under 2% at 60 with long service may also qualify for a career factor or a longevity bonus that this page does not apply. Find your structure and your factor on your CalSTRS Retirement Progress Report, in your Member Handbook, or in myCalSTRS — then type that factor below. Our comparison of the two structures →
Your three numbers
Arithmetic on the numbers you typed
Assumptions used — read these before trusting the number
- This is one multiplication. Service credit × age factor × final compensation. Nothing else is applied, and every input is supplied by you.
- 2% at 60 versus 2% at 62 is not a detail. The two structures use different age factor tables, so the same person at the same age gets a different factor depending on which structure they are in. Using the wrong table is the most likely way this page misleads you. The comparison, in full →
- Career factor and longevity bonus are not applied. Career factor: 2% at 60 members with 30+ years add 0.2%, up to 2.4%; 2% at 62 members are not eligible. Longevity bonus: only 2% at 60 members with at least 30 years of service credit on or before 31 December 2010. Sources: CalSTRS Retirement Guide 2026; CalSTRS glossary. Neither is added here — if either applies to you, the real benefit is higher than shown.
- This is the Defined Benefit allowance only. Any balance in your Defined Benefit Supplement account, or in a Cash Balance Benefit program, is separate and is not included.
- The member-only allowance is the maximum, and it ends when you do. Electing an option to continue income to a beneficiary permanently reduces your own monthly amount, by an amount that depends on the option and your beneficiary's age. The row above is an illustrative range only. The decision framework →
- Most CalSTRS members do not pay into Social Security for their teaching service, which changes the retirement picture around the pension considerably — and the repeal of the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset in 2025 changed it again. What that means →
- Nothing else is included: no purchasing power protection or benefit improvement factor, no health premium deductions, no federal or California tax withholding, no reduction for retiring before your normal retirement age beyond what your factor already reflects, no service credit purchase, no reciprocity with CalPERS or another California system, and no disability benefit.
Only CalSTRS can tell you what you will actually receive. This page has no access to your record — not your structure, not your service credit, not your compensation earnable, not a single reported day. Aduna Capital is not affiliated with CalSTRS and cannot obtain, verify or influence your benefit. Use myCalSTRS and your annual Retirement Progress Report for a real estimate built on your actual data, or request one from CalSTRS directly. Where this page and CalSTRS disagree, CalSTRS is right.
This is an estimate, not advice. The output above is arithmetic performed on the numbers you entered, under the assumptions printed on this page. It is not a recommendation, not a projection you should rely on, and not a substitute for a conversation with your CPA or a qualified adviser about your own situation.
Common questions
Common questions
How do I know whether I am 2% at 60 or 2% at 62?
Broadly, membership date: members who first joined CalSTRS before 1 January 2013 are generally under 2% at 60, and those first hired on or after that date are generally under 2% at 62 as PEPRA members. Breaks in service, refunds and reciprocity can complicate it. Your Retirement Progress Report states your structure — confirm it there rather than reasoning from your hire date. We compare the two structures here.
Why does this tool not add my career factor?
Because eligibility depends on service credit thresholds and historical deadlines that we cannot verify from four inputs, and quietly adding a factor you may not qualify for would inflate the number in the direction people most want to believe. If you do qualify, your real allowance is higher than this page shows — and CalSTRS will apply it.
Is the number shown what lands in my bank account?
No. It is the member-only allowance before any option election, before federal and California tax withholding, and before any health premium deduction. It also excludes your Defined Benefit Supplement balance, which is a separate account.
Does Aduna Capital work for CalSTRS?
No. We are an independent fee-only fiduciary investment adviser in Norwalk, California. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by CalSTRS. We help educators plan around the benefit — the 403(b), the 457(b), the taxable savings, the survivor election — but the benefit itself is CalSTRS's to calculate and pay.
Educators: bring your Retirement Progress Report.
We will put the CalSTRS allowance, your 403(b) or 457(b), any Social Security from other work, and your savings on one page — and model the option election before you file, while it is still a choice.