Updated October 4, 2026. Quick answer: Your CalSTRS Member-Only Benefit is an age factor times your years of service credit times your monthly final compensation, and the age factor depends on your structure and your age: 2.000% at 60 for a 2% at 60 member and 2.000% at 62 for a 2% at 62 member, rising to 2.4% by 63 or 65. Computed for the Handbook’s own example, a 2% at 60 member retiring at 60 with 24.250 years of service credit and a $79,000 final compensation, that is $3,192.92 a month (computed). A 2% at 62 member with 25 years and $90,000 gets $3,750.00 a month (computed) at 62 and $2,850.00 a month (computed) at 58, because the age factor drops 0.01 points for each month early. Enter your own numbers below.
Calculate your CalSTRS Member-Only Benefit
This page prices the Defined Benefit Program service retirement allowance from the formula in the Education Code and the CalSTRS Member Handbook. It runs on this page and sends nothing anywhere. Use the service credit CalSTRS shows for you, split into earned service, unused sick leave and any air time. The age is your age on the last day of the month your allowance begins: the Code says it uses “the age of the member on the last day of the month in which the retirement allowance begins to accrue”. Enter the final compensation as a yearly figure (the 12-month or 36-month average that applies, covered below); the page divides it by 12.
CalSTRS publishes its own calculator, and its page says “This calculator is provided as a retirement planning tool to help you estimate your future retirement benefit. Calculations are estimates only.” The same applies here, and a CalSTRS benefits specialist is the right place to confirm anything you will act on.
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Answer againThe formula, and which structure you are in
The Handbook describes the result this way: “Your Member-Only Benefit is the highest monthly benefit available when you retire.” It is the age factor times service credit times monthly final compensation. Computed for the Handbook’s example, a 2% at 60 member retiring at 60 with 24.250 years of service credit and a $79,000 yearly final compensation: $6,583.33 a month (computed) x 2.000% x 24.250 = $3,192.92 a month (computed), the same $3,192.92 the Handbook prints for that example.
Which structure you are in is set by your hire date. The CalSTRS calculator says: “Members under this benefit structure include those first hired on or before December 31, 2012 to perform CalSTRS creditable activities or who performed CalSTRS creditable activities under a different retirement system, including Social Security.” Everyone else is a 2% at 62 member. If you are unsure, CalSTRS can confirm your structure.
The age factor by retirement age
The age factor is the percentage of final compensation you earn for each year of service credit. At the normal retirement age it is 2.000%, which is age 60 for 2% at 60 members and age 62 for 2% at 62 members, and it rises to a ceiling of 2.4% three years later (age 63 or age 65). Whole-age values, computed from the Education Code tables and reductions:
| Age at retirement | 2% at 60 age factor | 2% at 62 age factor |
|---|---|---|
| 55 | 1.400% (computed) | 1.160% (computed) |
| 56 | 1.520% (computed) | 1.280% (computed) |
| 57 | 1.640% (computed) | 1.400% (computed) |
| 58 | 1.760% (computed) | 1.520% (computed) |
| 59 | 1.880% (computed) | 1.640% (computed) |
| 60 | 2.000% (computed) | 1.760% (computed) |
| 61 | 2.133% (computed) | 1.880% (computed) |
| 62 | 2.267% (computed) | 2.000% (computed) |
| 63 | 2.400% (computed) | 2.133% (computed) |
| 64 | 2.400% (computed) | 2.267% (computed) |
| 65 | 2.400% (computed) | 2.400% (computed) |
Between the whole ages the factor moves by month or by quarter year. “If you retire after the normal retirement age, the age factor is increased 0.033% for each quarter year up to the maximum.” Before the normal retirement age it falls. For a 2% at 60 member, section 24202.5 says “If the member’s retirement is effective at less than normal retirement age and between early retirement age and normal retirement age, the member’s allowance shall be reduced by one-half of 1 percent for each full month, or fraction of a month that will elapse until the member will attain normal retirement age.” Section 24202.6 gives the 2% at 62 rule in the same words for its members, and the Handbook states the effect in points: “the age factor is reduced by 0.01% each month or fraction of a month prior to the normal retirement age”. Worked example, calculated for a 2% at 62 member with 25 years and $90,000 final compensation ($7,500.00 a month): at 62 the factor is 2.000%, so 2.000% x 25 x $7,500.00 = $3,750.00 a month (computed). At 58 the member is 48 months early, 48 x 0.01 = 0.48 points, the factor is 1.520%, and the benefit is $2,850.00 a month (computed).
Monthly benefit by structure, service and age
Calculated with a $72,000 yearly final compensation ($6,000 a month), the Member-Only Benefit looks like this. The 2% at 60 rows at 30 and 35 years include the career factor described next. The Handbook’s age factor tables start at 55 for 2% at 62 members and at 50 for 2% at 60 members, who need 30 years of service credit below 55.
| Structure | Service credit | Retire at 55 | Retire at 60 | Retire at 62 | Retire at 65 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2% at 60 | 20 years | $1,680.00 (computed) | $2,400.00 (computed) | $2,720.40 (computed) | $2,880.00 (computed) |
| 2% at 60 | 25 years | $2,100.00 (computed) | $3,000.00 (computed) | $3,400.50 (computed) | $3,600.00 (computed) |
| 2% at 60 | 30 years | $2,880.00 (computed) | $3,960.00 (computed) | $4,320.00 (computed) | $4,320.00 (computed) |
| 2% at 60 | 35 years | $3,360.00 (computed) | $4,620.00 (computed) | $5,040.00 (computed) | $5,040.00 (computed) |
| 2% at 62 | 20 years | $1,392.00 (computed) | $2,112.00 (computed) | $2,400.00 (computed) | $2,880.00 (computed) |
| 2% at 62 | 25 years | $1,740.00 (computed) | $2,640.00 (computed) | $3,000.00 (computed) | $3,600.00 (computed) |
| 2% at 62 | 30 years | $2,088.00 (computed) | $3,168.00 (computed) | $3,600.00 (computed) | $4,320.00 (computed) |
| 2% at 62 | 35 years | $2,436.00 (computed) | $3,696.00 (computed) | $4,200.00 (computed) | $5,040.00 (computed) |
The career factor for 2% at 60 members
A 2% at 60 member with a long career gets an extra step. The Code says the percentage “shall be increased by two-tenths of 1 percentage point” for 30 or more years of credited service, but the total is held at the ceiling: “the sum of the percentage of final compensation used to compute the allowance, including any adjustments for retiring before the normal retirement age, and the additional percentage provided by this section does not exceed 2.40 percent”. The Handbook puts it as “The age factor is increased by a career factor of 0.2% if you have 30 or more years of earned service credit on the day you retire.” It also allows a small bridge: “You may use up to two-tenths of one year of unused sick leave credit at retirement to help qualify for the career factor.” Air time does not help: “The purchase of nonqualified service credit, known as air time, is no longer permitted and cannot be used to qualify for the career factor.”
Worked example, calculated for a 2% at 60 member retiring at 61 and 6 months with a $100,000 final compensation and 30 years of earned service: the age factor is 2.200% and the career factor lifts it to 2.400%, so 2.400% x 30 x $8,333.33 = $6,000.00 a month (computed). With 29.8 earned years the member has no career factor and gets 2.200% x 29.8 x $8,333.33 = $5,463.33 a month (computed). Adding 0.2 years of unused sick leave credit reaches 30 and the factor becomes 2.400%: $6,000.00 a month (computed), which is $536.67 more each month for 0.2 of a year. Retiring between 50 and 55 is possible for a 2% at 60 member only with 30 years of credited service: “You must have 30 or more years of service credit to retire between the ages of 50 and 55.”
The 2% at 62 structure has no such step. “CalSTRS 2% at 62 members: There is no career factor benefit enhancement to the age factor.” Section 24203.5 raises the percentage of final compensation used to compute the allowance under sections 24202.5, 24203, 24205 and several others, and 24202.6 is not among them.
Final compensation and service credit
The calculator needs your final compensation as a yearly figure. The averaging period depends on your structure and service. “If you retire with 25 or more years of service credit under the CalSTRS 2% at 60 benefit structure, we use your highest average annual compensation earnable during any period of 12 consecutive months”, and for everyone else “your final compensation is based on your highest average annual compensation earnable during any period of 36 consecutive months of paid employment covered by CalSTRS.” For a 2% at 62 member the Code also caps the pay that counts: “Creditable compensation used to calculate the defined benefit shall be limited as described in Section 22119.3.” The calculator applies no cap, so enter the capped figure if yours is over it.
Three choices the Member-Only Benefit does not make
1. Which option. The Member-Only Benefit is the top of the scale, and a beneficiary option lowers it for protection. For example, “100% Beneficiary Option: Upon your death, your option beneficiary will receive the same reduced benefit you were receiving for your lifetime.” Computed for a 2% at 60 member retiring at 60 whose beneficiary is also 60, the Handbook’s factors are 0.9031, 0.9306 and 0.9549 for the 100%, 75% and 50% options, so the $3,192.92 Member-Only Benefit becomes $2,883.53, $2,971.33 and $3,048.92 a month (computed). The trade is covered on the single life versus joint and survivor page.
2. Whether to take a refund instead. A member who leaves can take a refund of contributions rather than a lifetime benefit, which is the decision on the pension refund page.
3. When to retire, and what to do with the Defined Benefit Supplement. Each month early costs 0.01 points of age factor for life, and each added year adds the age factor again. The allowance also includes “An annuity based on the balance of credits in the member’s Defined Benefit Supplement account, pursuant to Section 25012, if elected by the member pursuant to Section 25011 or 25011.1.” That supplement balance is a separate choice. COLA, vesting and buyback facts are on the CalSTRS retirement decisions page, and the Social Security side for teachers is on the teacher pension and Social Security page.
Where this calculator stops, and how it was checked
It prices the Defined Benefit Program Member-Only Benefit for a service retirement. It does not price the Defined Benefit Supplement or Cash Balance Benefit accounts, the longevity bonus (a set dollar amount for members with 30 years of service credit by the end of 2010), a retirement incentive, disability or survivor benefits, the cost of living adjustment, purchased service, or the tax on the benefit; California’s own treatment is on the California pension tax page. “CalSTRS 2% at 62 members are not eligible for the Reduced Benefit Election.” The Reduced Benefit Election for 2% at 60 members is not modeled. Beneficiary option amounts are shown only when your age is a whole number of years from 55 to 70 and the beneficiary age is one the Handbook lists, because “Note: Option factors are adjusted periodically. This listing is an extract of option factors for selected member and beneficiary ages.” and “Minor differences may occur when actual calculations are performed as your age and the age of your option beneficiary are based on the nearest quarter year of age.” It shows no figure for a 2% at 60 member retiring between 50 and 55 whose 30 years include air time.
How it was checked: on October 4, 2026 the formula was compared with the CalSTRS Retirement Benefits Calculator on its own website, 450 combinations of structure, age, service, sick leave, air time and pay. Wherever this page prints a figure it matched the CalSTRS calculator to the cent, with one exception: for 2% at 62 members with 30 or more years of service credit the CalSTRS online calculator adds the 0.2 career factor, which the Handbook and section 24203.5 say that structure does not get. This page follows the Handbook. Every printed age factor (300 cells) and percent-of-final-compensation figure (708 cells) in the Handbook’s 2% at 60 and 2% at 62 tables also matched, and the option factors matched the CalSTRS calculator within a cent on 540 option amounts.
Common mistakes
- Using your latest pay instead of final compensation. The formula uses the highest 12 consecutive months for a 2% at 60 member with 25 or more years, and the highest 36 months otherwise.
- Counting unused sick leave beyond 0.2 of a year toward the 30 years for the career factor. Only up to 0.2 counts for that test, though all of it adds to service credit.
- Expecting a 2% at 62 member to get the career factor. That structure has none, even though CalSTRS’s online calculator currently adds one.
- Treating 0.01 points a month as small. At 48 months early it is 0.48 points, almost a quarter of the 2.000% factor, and it is permanent.
- Reading the Member-Only Benefit as your check. A beneficiary option lowers it, and the Defined Benefit Supplement is paid separately.
Related: CalSTRS retirement decisions, public pension decisions by system, single life versus joint and survivor, pension refund versus leaving it in, and California pension taxes.
Sources
- California Education Code section 24202.5 (CalSTRS 2% at 60 service retirement allowance): https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml (section page)
- California Education Code section 24202.6 (CalSTRS 2% at 62 service retirement allowance): https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml (section page)
- California Education Code section 24203.5 (career factor): https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml (section page)
- CalSTRS, Member Handbook, January 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027: https://www.calstrs.com/files/44f960e51/MemberHandbook2026.pdf
- CalSTRS, Retirement benefits calculator (page): https://www.calstrs.com/retirement-benefits-calculator
- CalSTRS, Retirement Benefits Calculator (the online tool): https://resources.calstrs.com/CalSTRSComResourcesWebUI_START/Calculators/Pages/RetirementBenefit.aspx
Read from the California Education Code and the CalSTRS pages linked above on October 4, 2026. General information, not legal or tax advice, and not a CalSTRS estimate. Your own facts decide the outcome, and CalSTRS, your plan administrator or a benefits advisor is the right place to confirm anything consequential.