Updated October 30, 2026. Quick answer: The Virginia Retirement System pays a Plan 1 member, someone who joined before July 1, 2010 and was vested on January 1, 2013, a pension of 1.7% of average final compensation for each year of creditable service. Computed for 25 years and a $72,000 average, that is $30,600 a year (computed), or $2,550 a month (computed), at age 65. A member with 30 years of service can take the same unreduced pension from age 50, and one who retires earlier on fewer years is reduced by a VRS factor this page does not print. Enter your own numbers below; the figure is the basic benefit, before any payment option.
Calculate your Virginia VRS Plan 1 pension
This page applies the pension formula in the Code of Virginia and the VRS Plan 1 handbook to your service, age and average pay. It runs on this page and sends nothing anywhere. It covers a Plan 1 member. VRS puts the cutoff this way: “You are in Plan 1 if your membership date is before July 1, 2010, and you were vested (you had at least five years of service credit) as of January 1, 2013.” Everyone else is in Plan 2 or the hybrid plan, whose multiplier and age tests differ, and this page does not price them. Enter your creditable service from your VRS record, whole years and months, and the age you will be on your retirement date.
For a decision, use VRS itself: its myVRS account and retirement calculators are at varetire.org. This page is the published formula, shown so you can see the arithmetic.
The formula, as the statute and the handbook print it
Section 51.1-155 sets the allowance: “The allowance shall equal 1.70 percent of his average final compensation multiplied by the amount of his creditable service.” The handbook puts it as a multiplier: “Under VRS Plan 1, the retirement multiplier is 1.7%.” The calculator shows the yearly pension and the monthly pension (the yearly amount divided by 12).
The average is not your final salary. Section 51.1-124.3 defines it, for a member in Plan 1, as “the average annual creditable compensation of a member during his 36 highest consecutive months of creditable service”. The handbook repeats it: “Average final compensation is the average of your 36 consecutive months of highest creditable compensation as a covered employee”. The calculator asks for that average as a yearly amount (the 36-month total divided by three). A member whose compensation is above the Internal Revenue Code limit should confirm the average with VRS.
Worked example, calculated for 25 years of creditable service and a $72,000 average: 1.7% x 25 = 42.5% of $72,000 = $30,600 a year (computed), $2,550 a month (computed).
When the pension is not reduced
The handbook sets the unreduced dates: “Normal retirement age under VRS Plan 1 is age 65. You become eligible for an unreduced benefit at age 65 with at least five years of service credit or at age 50 with at least 30 years of service credit.” Section 51.1-124.3 agrees on the age: “”Normal retirement date” means a member’s sixty-fifth birthday.” The calculator adds service in months, so 29 years and 11 months does not count as 30 years.
One employer exception to know: “Some political subdivision employers require employees to reach age 55 with at least 30 years of service credit to be eligible for an unreduced retirement benefit.” The calculator uses age 50, the general rule; a member of a political subdivision should ask the employer’s human resource office.
Worked example, calculated for 30 years and a $72,000 average, retiring at 50: 1.7% x 30 = 51% of $72,000 = $36,720 a year (computed), $3,060 a month (computed), with no reduction.
What the pension is at each length of service for a member retiring at 65, at a $72,000 average:
| Years of service | Share of average | Annual pension | Monthly pension |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 8.5% (computed) | $6,120 (computed) | $510 (computed) |
| 10 | 17% (computed) | $12,240 (computed) | $1,020 (computed) |
| 20 | 34% (computed) | $24,480 (computed) | $2,040 (computed) |
| 30 | 51% (computed) | $36,720 (computed) | $3,060 (computed) |
| 35 | 59.5% (computed) | $42,840 (computed) | $3,570 (computed) |
From age 65 a member needs only the vested service; the table starts at five years.
Retiring early: why this page prints no figure
The handbook describes the reduced pension: “You may retire with a reduced benefit as early as age 55 with at least five years of service credit or age 50 with at least 10 years of service credit.” It says how the amount is found: “VRS applies an early retirement reduction factor to your unreduced basic benefit.” For teachers and state employees, and for employees of a political subdivision that elects it, Section 51.1-155 describes the factor as an actuarial equivalent: “If the member has less than 30 years of service at retirement, the amount of the retirement allowance shall be reduced on an actuarial equivalent basis”, and the statute gives no table. Employees of other political subdivisions fall under a different early-retirement subdivision of the same section, which this page does not price. This page does not retype a factor from the handbook, so for a member who qualifies to retire early it shows the formula amount before reduction and says the reduction is VRS’s.
One difference between the two sources, disclosed: Section 51.1-153 opens early retirement with “Any member in service who has attained his fifty-fifth birthday with five or more years of creditable service may retire prior to his normal retirement date”, while the handbook also lists age 50 with 10 years. The calculator follows the handbook and reports a member of 50 to 54 with 10 to 29 years as eligible for a reduced pension; confirm that date with VRS.
Worked reference, calculated for 25 years and a $72,000 average, a member who is 56: the amount before any early-retirement reduction is $30,600 a year (computed). VRS applies its reduction factor to that amount.
What to do next
1. Get VRS’s own number. The myVRS account and the Plan 1 handbook above are the system’s figures; this page is the printed formula.
2. The rest of the VRS decisions. Payment options, the cost-of-living adjustment and buying service are on the Virginia VRS retirement decisions page, and the latest adjustment is on the Virginia VRS COLA page.
3. Tax. Virginia’s treatment of pension income is on the Virginia pension tax page. Federal tax applies too: “The taxable part of your pension or annuity payments is generally subject to federal income tax withholding.” The withholding form is described on the IRS page for Form W-4P: “so your payer can withhold the correct amount of federal income tax from your periodic pension, annuity”.
Where this calculator stops
It prices one slice of VRS: a Plan 1 member retiring from service. Plan 2 members, the hybrid plan, members with enhanced hazardous duty coverage, the State Police, Virginia Law Officers and judicial systems use other formulas, and the calculator does not price them. It leaves out the reduction for retiring early (no figure is printed), the payment options and the partial lump sum, the Advance Pension Option, disability and survivor benefits, cost-of-living adjustments, purchased service and its cost (the pension buyback calculator covers purchases in general), and the rules for a member who left covered employment before retiring. It reads service and age as you enter them.
How it was checked: a second, independent engine (exact fractions, with the multiplier, the 60 months of service and every age and service mark read from the archived statute and handbook text) agreed with this page’s engine on 300,000 random combinations of service, age and pay, and the shipped script was driven in a browser on a grid of cases against both. The rules were read from Sections 51.1-124.3, 51.1-153 and 51.1-155 of the Code of Virginia and the VRS Plan 1 handbook.
Common mistakes
- Using your final salary. The average is your 36 highest consecutive months.
- Using the Plan 2 or hybrid multiplier. Plan 1 is 1.7% and covers members who joined before July 1, 2010 and were vested on January 1, 2013.
- Expecting a full pension at 55. Unreduced dates are age 65 with five years, or age 50 with 30 years.
- Assuming a reduced pension is a fixed percentage. For teachers and state employees the statute reduces it on an actuarial equivalent basis and prints no flat percentage.
Related: Virginia VRS retirement decisions, public pension decisions by system, single life versus joint and survivor, and Virginia retirement taxes.
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Answer againSources
- Code of Virginia, Section 51.1-124.3 (definitions): https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title51.1/chapter1/section51.1-124.3/
- Code of Virginia, Section 51.1-153 (service retirement): https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title51.1/chapter1/section51.1-153/
- Code of Virginia, Section 51.1-155 (service retirement allowance): https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title51.1/chapter1/section51.1-155/
- Virginia Retirement System (VRS), Plan 1 Member Handbook: https://www.varetire.org/media/shared/pdf/publications/handbook-plan-1.pdf
- Virginia Retirement System (VRS), Plan 1: https://www.varetire.org/retirement-plans/defined-benefit/plan1/
- IRS, Topic no. 410, Pensions and annuities: https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc410
- IRS, About Form W-4P, Withholding Certificate for Pension or Annuity Payments: https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-w-4p
Read from the system publications linked above on October 30, 2026. General information, not legal or tax advice, and not an estimate from the retirement system. Your own facts decide the outcome, and your retirement system, your plan administrator or a benefits advisor is the right place to confirm anything consequential.