Arizona ASRS Retirement Age and Eligibility: Age 65 or 62

Updated October 30, 2026. Quick answer: For Arizona State Retirement System members whose membership began on or after July 1, 2011, a normal retirement date is age 65, or age 62 with at least 10 years of credited service, or age 60 with at least 25 years, or age 55 with at least 30 years. Members who joined before July 1, 2011 can also retire when age plus credited service equals 80. Early retirement is open from age 50 with 5 years, with a reduced income.

Normal retirement for members before July 1, 2011

““Normal retirement date” means the earliest of the following: (a) For a member whose membership commenced before July 1, 2011: (i) A member’s sixty-fifth birthday.” “(ii) A member’s sixty-second birthday and completion of at least ten years of credited service.” The Rule of 80: “(iii) The first day that the sum of a member’s age and years of total credited service equals eighty.”

Normal retirement for members on or after July 1, 2011

The statute’s list for the later group includes “(iii) A member’s sixtieth birthday and completion of at least twenty-five years of credited service. (iv) A member’s fifty-fifth birthday and completion of at least thirty years of credited service.” An employer guide for University of Arizona staff lays out the same combinations, among them “At age 60 with 25 or more years of credited service” and “At age 55 with 30 or more years of credited service”.

Early retirement

“A member who has attained age fifty, who has terminated employment with all employers and who has five years of total credited service is eligible to elect, in a form and manner prescribed by the board, to receive a reduced retirement income.” “reducing the normal retirement benefit computed in accordance with section 38-757 at the rate of three percent per year from age sixty to age sixty-five and five percent per year from age fifty to age sixty.” “to the member’s sixty-second birthday if the member has at least ten years of total credited service or sixty-fifth birthday if the member has at least five but less than ten years of total credited service.”

Vesting

““Vested” means that a member is eligible to receive a future retirement benefit.”

What the pension is based on

“The number of whole and fractional years of credited service times the following: (a) 2.10 percent if the member does not have more than 19.99 years of credited service.” The top step: “(d) 2.30 percent if the member has at least 30.00 years of credited service.” Average pay: “the monthly average of compensation on which contributions were remitted during a period of sixty consecutive months during which a member receives the highest compensation within the last one hundred twenty months of credited service”.

A worked example with invented numbers

Take an invented member with 15 years of credited service, inside the first multiplier step. That is 15 years at 2.10%, or 31.5% (computed) of a final average salary of $60,000 (invented, for the computation), which comes to $18,900 a year (computed).

Now take an invented member with 30 years of credited service. That is 30 years at 2.30%, or 69% (computed) of a final average salary of $60,000 (invented, for the computation), which comes to $41,400 a year (computed).

What the documents do not say

The Arizona State Retirement System’s own site returned an access error to automated tools, so the rules are read from Arizona Revised Statutes sections 38-711, 38-757 and 38-758, with a University of Arizona employer guide as a plain-language cross-check. That guide is a secondary source, not an ASRS document. No source read gives a number of years to vest. The statute sets the multiplier at 2.15 percent for 20 years up to just under 25 years and 2.20 percent for 25 years up to just under 30 years, between the two rates quoted above. For members who joined from January 1, 1984 through June 30, 2011 the statute’s average compensation is a 36-month period, not the 60 months quoted above, and members who joined before 1984 have their own rule. The early retirement reductions quoted above are the rules for members who joined on or after July 1, 2011; section 38-758(B) sets the rules for earlier members, with a longer list of base ages and an alternative for age plus service of 77 to 79, and this page does not summarize them. Public safety plans and long-term disability are not covered.

Common mistakes

• Applying the Rule of 80 to a member hired on or after July 1, 2011. The statute’s Rule of 80 sits under membership that began before that date.
• Retiring at 50 and expecting the normal formula. The statute reduces the benefit three percent a year from 60 to 65 and five percent a year from 50 to 60.
• Assuming a vesting number. The statute defines vested only as eligible to receive a future retirement benefit.

Related: Arizona ASRS retirement decisions, the Arizona ASRS COLA for 2027, how public pension decisions work, and whether Arizona taxes pensions.

Sources

• Arizona Legislature, A.R.S. 38-711 Definitions: www.azleg.gov
• University of Arizona Division of Human Resources (employer summary of ASRS rules), Guide for Arizona State Retirement System Members: hr.arizona.edu
• Arizona Legislature, A.R.S. 38-758 Early retirement: www.azleg.gov
• Arizona Legislature, A.R.S. 38-757 Normal retirement: www.azleg.gov
• Related official page (not quoted): IRS Tax Topic 410, Pensions and annuities: www.irs.gov
• Related official page (not quoted): IRS Tax Topic 411, Pensions: the General Rule and the Simplified Method: www.irs.gov

Read from the primary documents linked above on October 30, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer or the IRS itself is the right place to confirm anything consequential.