Colorado PERA Retirement Calculator
Estimate your Colorado PERA pension using PERA's own benefit tables. Pick the group that matches when you joined, enter your service and highest average salary, and see whether you'd retire unreduced, what a reduced retirement pays, and how the 1.0% annual increase adds up.
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How PERA calculates your benefit
The rules below come from PERA's "Your PERA Benefits" booklet (revised April 2026), the statute behind it (C.R.S. 24-51-602), and PERA's July 2026 fact sheets on annual increases. They cover the PERA benefit structure for members who aren't Safety Officers. DPS benefit structure members and Safety Officers have separate tables.
Annual Benefit = 2.5% x Years of Service Credit x Highest Average Salary (max 100%)
With 30 years and a $70,000 HAS, an unreduced benefit is 75% of HAS: $52,500 a year, $4,375 a month. HAS is the average of your 3 highest years if you had 5 years of service credit on January 1, 2020, and your 5 highest otherwise. Each year in the average can be at most 8% above the year before (15% for some members who joined before 2007), so a late spike in pay doesn't count in full.
PERA also figures a money purchase benefit from your account balance plus a match and pays whichever is larger. For long-service members the formula almost always wins. Under 5 years, the money purchase benefit is the only one, and this calculator doesn't estimate it.
Your membership date picks your table
PERA sorts members into nine tables. The groups, and the unreduced retirement rules for each:
- Joined on or after January 1, 2020 (PERA 9): 65 with 5 years, 64 with 30, or 35 years at any age.
- Joined 2017 to 2019, last 10 years not in School or DPS (PERA 8): 65 with 5, 60 with 30, 35 at any age, or age plus service of 90 at 60 or older.
- Joined 2011 to 2016, or 2017 to 2019 with the last 10 years in School or DPS (PERA 7): 65 with 5, 58 with 30, 60 with 28, 35 at any age, or 88 points at 58 or older.
- Joined 2007 to 2010, or before 2007 with under 5 years on January 1, 2011 (PERA 5 and 6): 65 with 5, 55 with 30, 60 with 25, 35 at any age, or 85 points at 55 or older.
- Joined July 2005 to 2006 with 5 years on January 1, 2011 (PERA 3 and 4): 65 with 5, 55 with 30, 60 with 20, 35 at any age, or 80 points at 55 or older.
- Joined before July 2005 with 5 years on January 1, 2011 (PERA 1 and 2): 65 with 5, 50 with 30, 60 with 20, or 80 points at 55 or older.
Tables 1, 3 and 5 are for members who were already eligible to retire on January 1, 2011. The booklet's eligibility summary lists the age-and-service pairs but not the points rules. The statute has them, and PERA's tables pay the full 2.5% in exactly those cells.
Reduced service retirement
You can retire before you're unreduced at 50 with 25 years, 55 with 20 or 60 with 5. If you joined in 2020 or later, it's 55 with 25 or 60 with 5. The cut isn't a flat percent per year. PERA publishes the percentage of HAS you'd get at each age and service level.
Some examples from the tables. A member who joined in 2020 or later with 25 years at 55 gets 28.5% of HAS, where unreduced would be 62.5%. With 30 years at 60 it's 52.3% against 75%. A 2011-2016 hire with 30 years at 55 gets 58.3%. For most groups these are actuarial equivalents, effective March 1, 2025, and PERA can change them when its assumptions change.
The annual increase
PERA retirees get an annual increase each July. It was 1.0% in July 2026, and PERA's June 2026 automatic adjustment report says it will be 1.0% for most recipients in July 2027. The automatic adjustment provision can move it by up to 0.25% a year, never below 0.5% or above 2.0%. For members who joined in 2007 or later, the increase is the lesser of that cap and the prior year's average CPI-W.
If you retire on or after January 1, 2011, you wait 36 months for the first one. A reduced retiree also has to reach 60, or the age and service that would have been unreduced, before increases start. At 1.0% a year, a $4,375 check is about $4,690 after 10 years of retirement (7 increases).
PERA and Social Security
Most PERA members don't pay into Social Security while working for PERA employers; PERA's plans substitute for it. If you earned Social Security elsewhere, you'll get both. The Social Security Fairness Act repealed WEP and GPO for benefits payable from January 2024, so your Social Security from other work isn't cut because of your PERA pension.
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Frequently asked questions
How is a Colorado PERA pension calculated?
2.5% of your highest average salary for each year of service credit, up to 100%. With 30 years and a $70,000 HAS, that's 75%, or $52,500 a year. HAS is the average of your 3 highest years if you had 5 years of service credit on January 1, 2020, otherwise your 5 highest, with raises above 8% a year capped.
When can I retire from PERA without a reduction?
It depends on when you joined. Members who joined on or after January 1, 2020 are unreduced at 65 with 5 years, 64 with 30 years, or any age with 35 years. Members who joined from 2011 to 2016 are unreduced at 58 with 30, 60 with 28, 65 with 5, any age with 35, or at 58 or older once age plus service reaches 88. Each earlier group has its own rules, set by C.R.S. 24-51-602.
How much is the reduction for retiring early?
PERA doesn't use a flat percent per year. It publishes a table of percentages of HAS by age and service for each membership group. For someone who joined in 2020 or later, 25 years at 55 pays 28.5% of HAS instead of 62.5%. 30 years at 60 pays 52.3% instead of 75%. For most groups these reduced percentages are actuarial equivalents and PERA can change them.
Does Colorado PERA have a COLA?
Yes, an annual increase each July. It was 1.0% in July 2026, and PERA expects 1.0% in July 2027. The automatic adjustment provision can raise or lower it by up to 0.25% a year, with a floor of 0.5% and a cap of 2.0%. If you retire on or after January 1, 2011, the first increase comes after 36 months of benefits. Reduced retirees also have to reach 60 or the age and service for an unreduced benefit.
Do PERA members get Social Security?
Most PERA members don't pay into Social Security in their PERA job; PERA is the substitute. If you earned Social Security from other work, you get both, and since the Social Security Fairness Act repealed WEP and GPO, neither reduces the other.