Updated October 30, 2026. Quick answer: The Maryland State Retirement and Pension System pays a member of the Employees’ Pension System by the benefit the member is under. A member employed on June 30, 2006 or hired before July 1, 2011 (the Alternate Contributory Pension Selection) generally gets 1.8% of average final compensation for each year after June 30, 1998, and normally 1.2% for each year through that date; a member who joined on or after July 1, 2011 (the Reformed Contributory Pension Benefit) gets 1.5% for every year. Computed for 28 years and a $76,000 average at 65, the Reformed pension is $31,920 a year (computed), or $2,660 a month (computed). An early retirement is cut half a percent for each month it comes before 62 or 65. Enter your own numbers below; the figure is the basic allowance, before any payment option.
Calculate your Maryland Employees’ Pension
This page applies the pension formulas in the Maryland Code to your service, age and average pay. It runs on this page and sends nothing anywhere. It covers the Employees’ Pension System under its two current benefits. The Reformed benefit applies to “an individual who becomes a member of the Employees’ Pension System or the Teachers’ Pension System on or after July 1, 2011”, and the Retirement Agency’s handbook says the Alternate Contributory Pension Selection “was created in 2006 and, in general, is relevant to members who were employed as members on June 30, 2006, or who became employed as members after June 30, 2006 and before July 1, 2011.” Members who left earlier, employees of a few employers that did not elect it, and members who left and came back after July 1, 2011 can be under an older benefit or the other one; the handbook says your component is listed on your most recent Personal Statement of Benefits. Pick your benefit, enter your service credit from your SRPS record, whole years and months, and the age you will be on your retirement date.
For a decision, use SRPS itself: the mySRPS participant portal and the Retirement Agency’s benefit handbooks are at sra.maryland.gov. This page is the published formula, shown so you can see the arithmetic.
The formulas, as the statute prints them
Section 23-401 sets the normal allowance for each benefit. For the Alternate Contributory Pension Selection it is the sum of “the number of years of the member’s creditable service on or after July 1, 1998 multiplied by 1.8% of the member’s average final compensation” and the service through June 30, 1998 at “the number of years of the member’s creditable service on or before June 30, 1998 multiplied by 1.2% of the member’s average final compensation”. For a member under the Reformed benefit it is “the number of years of the member’s creditable service multiplied by 1.5% of the member’s average final compensation”.
The 1.2% rate for service through June 30, 1998 is the greater of two formulas in the statute. The SRPS handbook says “For almost all members the 1.20% benefit multiplier will produce the greater benefit.” The calculator uses 1.2%; a member who started well before 1998 and has a high salary should ask SRPS whether the older, Social Security-linked formula pays more.
The average is not your final salary. For a member on or before June 30, 2011, Section 20-205 defines it as “the average annual earnable compensation of the member, adjusted as provided in this section, during the 3 consecutive years that provide the highest average earnable compensation”. For a member who joined later, Section 20-205.1 uses “the average annual earnable compensation of the member, adjusted as provided in this section, during the 5 consecutive years that provide the highest average earnable compensation”. The calculator asks for that average as a yearly amount.
Worked example, Alternate Contributory Pension Selection, calculated for 4 years through June 30, 1998, 24 years after it and an $80,000 three-year average, retiring at 62: 1.2% x 4 = 4.8% plus 1.8% x 24 = 43.2%, which is 48% of $80,000 = $38,400 a year (computed), $3,200 a month (computed). Reformed benefit, 28 years and a $76,000 five-year average, retiring at 65: 1.5% x 28 = 42% of $76,000 = $31,920 a year (computed), $2,660 a month (computed).
Who can retire, and when the pension is not reduced
Section 23-401 gives a member under the Alternate Contributory Pension Selection a normal allowance with “has at least 30 years of eligibility service” at any age, or at age 62 with 5 years of eligibility service; the same table runs to 65 with 2 years. The statute also counts a combined 30 years across the Employees’ and Teachers’ pension and retirement systems; the calculator counts only the service you enter. The SRPS handbook adds that the later pairs (63 with 4, 64 with 3, 65 with 2) apply to a member who retires directly on leaving employment. A member under the Reformed benefit qualifies under Section 23-401(f) with “has at least 90 years of combined age and years of eligibility service” or at 65 with 10 years. The calculator counts age and service in months, so 59 years and 11 months plus 30 years does not count as 90, and treats eligibility service as equal to creditable service.
The calculator assumes you retire directly from covered employment. A member who left and is claiming a vested allowance later is under other rules, and this page does not price that.
Retiring early: the reduction, computed
Section 23-402 sets the early tests. For the Alternate Contributory Pension Selection: “has at least 15 years but less than 30 years of eligibility service” and “is at least 55 but less than 62 years old”, and the cut is “reduced by 0.5% for each month that the member’s early retirement date precedes the date the member will be 62 years old”. The SRPS handbook says the same in a sentence: “Retirement benefits payable before age 62 are reduced .5% for each month (6% for each year) you retire prior to your 62nd birthday. The maximum reduction is 42%.”
Worked example, calculated for 20 years after June 30, 1998 and an $80,000 average, retiring at 58. The pension before reduction is 1.8% x 20 = 36% of $80,000 = $28,800 a year (computed). Age 58 is 48 months under 62, so the reduction is 48 x 0.5% = 24% and the pension is $21,888 a year (computed), $1,824 a month (computed).
| Age at retirement | Months under 62 | Reduction | Annual pension | Monthly pension |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 55 | 84 | 42% (computed) | $16,704 (computed) | $1,392 (computed) |
| 56 | 72 | 36% (computed) | $18,432 (computed) | $1,536 (computed) |
| 57 | 60 | 30% (computed) | $20,160 (computed) | $1,680 (computed) |
| 58 | 48 | 24% (computed) | $21,888 (computed) | $1,824 (computed) |
| 59 | 36 | 18% (computed) | $23,616 (computed) | $1,968 (computed) |
| 60 | 24 | 12% (computed) | $25,344 (computed) | $2,112 (computed) |
| 61 | 12 | 6% (computed) | $27,072 (computed) | $2,256 (computed) |
The table is for 20 years of service after June 30, 1998 and an $80,000 average, under the Alternate Contributory Pension Selection.
Retiring early under the Reformed benefit
A member who joined on or after July 1, 2011 can retire early only from age 60: “is at least 60 but less than 65 years old” with “has at least 15 years of eligibility service”. The cut is “reduced by 0.5% for each month that the member’s early retirement date precedes the date the member will be 65 years old”. The handbook for this group says “The maximum reduction is 30% (5 years x 6%) for members enrolled on or after July 1, 2011.”
Worked example, calculated for 20 years and a $76,000 average, retiring at 62. The pension before reduction is 1.5% x 20 = 30% of $76,000 = $22,800 a year (computed). Age 62 is 36 months under 65, so the reduction is 36 x 0.5% = 18% and the pension is $18,696 a year (computed), $1,558 a month (computed).
| Age at retirement | Months under 65 | Reduction | Annual pension | Monthly pension |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60 | 60 | 30% (computed) | $15,960 (computed) | $1,330 (computed) |
| 61 | 48 | 24% (computed) | $17,328 (computed) | $1,444 (computed) |
| 62 | 36 | 18% (computed) | $18,696 (computed) | $1,558 (computed) |
| 63 | 24 | 12% (computed) | $20,064 (computed) | $1,672 (computed) |
| 64 | 12 | 6% (computed) | $21,432 (computed) | $1,786 (computed) |
The table is for 20 years of service and a $76,000 average, under the Reformed benefit; age plus service is below 90 at each of these ages.
What to do next
1. Get SRPS’s own number. The mySRPS portal and the benefit handbooks above are the system’s figures; this page is the printed formula.
2. The rest of the Maryland decisions. Payment options, the cost-of-living adjustment and buying service are on the Maryland SRPS retirement decisions page, and the latest adjustment is on the Maryland SRPS COLA page.
3. Tax. Maryland’s treatment of pension income is on the Maryland 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 the Employees’ Pension System under its Alternate Contributory Pension Selection and Reformed Contributory Pension Benefit. Members of the Teachers’ Pension System, the older Contributory and noncontributory benefits (including members who left before July 2006), the Employees’ Retirement System, the Law Enforcement Officers’ system, and members who transferred from the older systems after April 1, 1998 use other formulas, and the calculator does not price them. It leaves out the Social Security-linked alternative for service before July 1, 1998, the rule that pays a member’s own annuity if it is greater, vested allowances, disability and survivor benefits, payment options, cost-of-living adjustments, purchased service and its cost (the pension buyback calculator covers purchases in general), and the extraordinary salary increase limit on the average. It reads service and age as you enter them.
How it was checked: a second, independent engine (exact fractions, with the three rates, the months-under rule, and every age and service mark read from the archived statute text) agreed with this page’s engine on 300,000 random combinations of benefit, 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 20-205, 20-205.1, 23-225, 23-401 and 23-402 of the Maryland Code, State Personnel and Pensions, and the two SRPS Employees’ Pension System handbooks.
Common mistakes
- Using one rate for the whole career under the Alternate Contributory Pension Selection. Service through June 30, 1998 is normally 1.2%, and service after it is 1.8%.
- Applying 1.8% to a Reformed member. The Reformed benefit is 1.5% for every year.
- Using the three-year average for a Reformed member. A member who joined on or after July 1, 2011 uses five consecutive years.
- Expecting the 62 early-retirement date under the Reformed benefit. That group is reduced up to age 65 and cannot retire early before 60.
Related: Maryland SRPS retirement decisions, public pension decisions by system, single life versus joint and survivor, and Maryland retirement taxes.
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Answer againSources
- Maryland Code, State Personnel and Pensions, Section 20-205 (average final compensation, members on or before June 30, 2011): https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText (section page)
- Maryland Code, State Personnel and Pensions, Section 20-205.1 (average final compensation, members on or after July 1, 2011): https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText (section page)
- Maryland Code, State Personnel and Pensions, Section 23-225 (Reformed Contributory Pension Benefit, who is covered): https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText (section page)
- Maryland Code, State Personnel and Pensions, Section 23-401 (normal service retirement): https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText (section page)
- Maryland Code, State Personnel and Pensions, Section 23-402 (early service retirement): https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText (section page)
- Maryland State Retirement and Pension System, Benefit Handbook, Employees’ Pension System, Alternate Contributory Pension Selection (April 2021): https://sra.maryland.gov/wp-content/uploads/Benefithandbook_Employees-ACPS_April-2021-002_accessible-version.pdf
- Maryland State Retirement and Pension System, Benefit Handbook, Employees’ Pension System, Reformed Contributory Pension Benefit (April 2021): https://sra.maryland.gov/wp-content/uploads/benefithandbook_Employees-RCPB_April-2021-002_accessible-version.pdf
- 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.