How the figures are built

Every calculator on this site runs in your browser on one engine and three data files: the 2026 pay tables, the county list of each locality area, and a parameter file that holds each legal rule and amount with the official text it comes from and the date it was read (October 19, 2026 for this edition). Nothing you type leaves your browser. This page lists the data, the formulas, the checks and what is deliberately left out.

Pay tables: rebuilt, then checked against OPM

We start from OPM's 2026 base General Schedule table and the 58 locality percentages. Each locality rate is computed the way OPM describes it: base rate times one plus the percentage, rounded to the nearest dollar, then limited to the rate for level IV of the Executive Schedule, $197,200. For GS-1 to GS-4, the result is compared with special rate table 001M and the higher figure is paid. Our data script then reads OPM's own XML file for each of the 58 areas (OPM 2026 salary tables) and compares every cell: all 8,700 cells of the 58 tables match to the dollar, and the hourly and overtime rates match to the cent. If a single cell differed, the tests would fail and nothing would be published.

From county to locality area

The county list comes from OPM's 2026 locality pay area definitions (opm.gov): 925 counties and independent cities in 43 states and the District, each assigned to its area. Any county not on the list is in Rest of U.S., as are Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the other nonforeign areas; Alaska and Hawaii are each a single area. The area is set by the official worksite, not the home, under 5 CFR 531.605.

Step increases and promotions

Waiting periods for within-grade increases are those of 5 CFR 531.405: 52 weeks for steps 2 to 4, 104 weeks for steps 5 to 7, 156 weeks for steps 8 to 10, so 18 years from step 1 to step 10. Dates are counted in months from the time you say you have spent in your step; we never print a calendar date, since we do not know your exact effective date. Promotions follow the standard two-step method of 5 CFR 531.214(d)(3): your GS base rate plus two step increments of your current grade, turned into a payable rate with your locality percentage (or table 001M), then the lowest step of the new grade that equals or exceeds it.

FERS annuity

Eligibility follows 5 U.S.C. 8412 and 8414: 62 with 5 years, 60 with 20, the MRA with 30, the MRA with 10 (reduced), early retirement under a VERA or a discontinued service retirement at 50 with 20 or at any age with 25, and the special provisions for law enforcement officers, firefighters and air traffic controllers. The MRA depends on the year of birth:

The basic annuity is the high-3 times the years and months of creditable service times 1 %, or 1.1 % when you separate at 62 or older with at least 20 years; under the special provisions, 1.7 % for the first 20 years and 1 % beyond. Unused sick leave is converted at 2,087 hours a year and added to the service used in the computation of an immediate or MRA+10 annuity, never to the service needed for eligibility, never to a deferred annuity. The MRA+10 reduction is 5/12 of 1 % for each month under 62 at the start of the annuity, waived when the annuity starts at 60 or later with 20 years. A full survivor annuity costs 10 % and pays 50 % of the unreduced annuity; a partial one costs 5 % and pays 25 %.

Example: born in 1970, leaving at 57 with 30 years, a high-3 of $100,000, 1,044 hours of sick leave and a full survivor election gives $30,500 a year before the survivor cut and $27,450 after it. The same person with 15 years under MRA+10, starting at 57, gets $10,125 a year after a 25 % reduction.

FERS supplement and Social Security

The supplement (5 U.S.C. 8421) is your Social Security estimate at 62 times your FERS civilian years, rounded to the nearest year, divided by 40. You can type the figure from your SSA statement; if you do not, we estimate it roughly from your salary and career length with this year's bend points ($1,286 and $7,749), the wage base of $184,500 and a 70 % factor for claiming at 62. That estimate ignores the wage indexing of each past year and is labeled as such. The earnings test (5 U.S.C. 8421a) withholds $1 for every $2 of wages above $24,480 in 2026. In the example above, the supplement is $18,000 a year.

Cost-of-living adjustments

The FERS COLA under 5 U.S.C. 8462 is the CPI-W increase up to 2 %, 2 % when the increase is between 2 % and 3 %, and the increase minus one point above 3 %. Regular retirees receive it only from 62; retirees under the special provisions, disability retirees and survivors receive it at any age. The first COLA after retirement is prorated; our projections ignore that proration.

Figures that are not official yet

The 2027 raise, the 2027 pay cap and the 2027 earnings test amount are not set as of October 19, 2026. They are empty in our parameter file on purpose. The 2027 raise page shows scenarios built on the 2026 tables, labeled as scenarios, and the President's proposal of 0 % as a proposal. When OPM publishes the 2027 tables, we will enter the official figures, rebuild every cell and check it against the new files.

Tests

Before each release, automated tests check every pay cell against OPM's files, the overtime cap in every area, the MRA table, the 1 % and 1.1 % multipliers, the MRA+10 reduction, the sick leave conversion, the supplement and its earnings test, the survivor costs, the COLA rule, the two-step promotion rule and the TSP match. The pages themselves draw their figures from the same functions as the calculators, so a corrected rule changes every page that cites it.

What is left out

CSRS and CSRS Offset, disability retirement, part-time service, military deposits, the deposit or redeposit of civilian service, the court-ordered division of an annuity, FEHB and FEGLI premiums, income tax and state tax on the annuity. Pay systems other than the General Schedule and occupational special rate tables beyond 001M are not computed. None of the results is an official determination: your SF-50, your leave and earnings statement and OPM Retirement Services are.