Colorado PERA Retirement Calculator

How PERA calculates your benefit

The Colorado PERA formula is straightforward: 2.5% times your years of service times your highest 3-year average annual salary. That's it. No cap, no complex phase-ins. A teacher with 30 years and a $68,000 average salary gets 0.025 x 30 x $68,000 = $51,000 per year, or $4,250 per month, for life.

The "highest 3-year average" means the three consecutive years where your base pay was highest (almost always the final three years before retirement). Overtime, stipends, and bonuses generally don't count. Base salary only.

At 2.5% per year, PERA is among the more generous multipliers in public pension land. Texas TRS uses 2.3%. The federal FERS system uses 1.0% or 1.1%. CalPERS varies by bargaining unit but many members are at 2.0%. PERA's 2.5% means that 25 years of service produces a benefit replacing 62.5% of your average salary. Forty years produces a benefit equal to 100% of your full average salary, guaranteed for life.

Which division you're in

PERA has five divisions. The State Division covers most state government employees. The School Division covers K-12 teachers, principals, and school district staff. Both share the same 2.5% multiplier and the same eligibility rules described here.

The Local Government Division covers employees of cities, counties, and special districts that have opted into PERA. The Judicial Division covers judges. Denver Public Schools operates under the DPS Division with its own separate benefit structure; DPS members should not use this calculator. If you're unsure which division you're in, your pay stub will show the PERA contribution line, and your myPERA account online lists your division explicitly.

Rule of 80 vs Rule of 85: the most important number on your statement

Your hire date determines which eligibility threshold applies to you, and the difference between the two rules can mean years of additional required service before you qualify for a full benefit.

Members hired before January 1, 2017 use the Rule of 80. Your age plus your total years of PERA service must equal at least 80, with a minimum age of 55. There's flexibility built into this: a 55-year-old with 25 years hits 80, same as a 58-year-old with 22 years. The minimum age of 55 prevents you from collecting at age 40 with 40 years, even though 40+40=80.

Members hired on or after January 1, 2017 use the Rule of 85. Same structure, five more points required. A 55-year-old now needs 30 years of service to satisfy Rule of 85, versus 25 under Rule of 80. That's a meaningful difference for anyone who started a PERA-covered job later in their career.

Both tiers also have age-based alternatives that don't require the rule calculation. Age 65 with at least 5 years qualifies anyone for a full, unreduced benefit, which catches career-changers who came to public service late. Age 60 with 20 years works for pre-2017 members; the post-2017 version requires 25 years at 60. These alternatives exist because some people's careers simply don't accumulate enough service to satisfy the rule threshold at any reasonable age.

Early retirement: the 3% reduction

PERA allows retirement at age 55 with at least 5 years of service even if you haven't met the Rule of 80 or 85. The tradeoff is an actuarial reduction of 3% for each year you're retiring before your full eligibility date.

Three percent per year is mild by state pension standards. Ohio STRS hits early retirees with 4% per year. Florida FRS can reach 5%. PERA's 3% means that retiring two years early costs you 6% of your calculated benefit, permanently. On a $3,500/month benefit, that's $210/month less, or $2,520 every year for the rest of your life.

Whether that trade makes sense depends almost entirely on your health and your other income sources. If you have significant savings, a working spouse, or a health condition that shortens your expected retirement, the earlier start date may net more total dollars than waiting. If you're in good health and have no pressing reason to leave, waiting for full eligibility is almost always the better financial decision. The calculator shows you both scenarios side by side.

PERA's COLA: what changed and what it means for your retirement

This is where PERA's history gets complicated, and where many retirees have been surprised. The original PERA COLA was 3.5% automatic annual increases, one of the most generous in the country. That changed with the 2018 PERA reform legislation (SB 200).

Current COLA is capped at the lesser of 1.5% or actual CPI. For members who retired before the reform, the change was painful but legally upheld. For members who retire now, the 1.5% cap is baked into every projection you make.

The post-2018 hire freeze makes it worse. Members who joined PERA after 2018 receive zero COLA for the first five years after they retire. Then the 1.5% cap kicks in. A member who retires in 2027 at a $4,000/month benefit will still receive $4,000/month in 2032. At 3% average inflation over that period, the real value has dropped to about $3,450 in 2027 dollars before the first adjustment arrives.

The implication: PERA covers a smaller fraction of your retirement expenses every year you're retired. That's true of almost every public pension with a capped COLA. The 403(b) and 457(b) plans available to PERA members serve a specific purpose here. They're not just extra savings; they're the inflation hedge on a benefit that won't keep pace with prices over a 25-year retirement.

What this calculator doesn't model

The PERA benefit is the foundation. It doesn't show your Social Security eligibility (many PERA members are exempt from Social Security in their PERA-covered job, though they may have Social Security credits from other employment), your DCP voluntary savings account balance, or the coordination between your PERA benefit and any Social Security you're entitled to through a spouse or prior employment.

The WEP and GPO rules can significantly reduce Social Security benefits for government pension recipients. That's a separate calculation entirely. If you have meaningful Social Security credits alongside your PERA benefit, that coordination deserves its own analysis before you finalize a retirement date.