Ohio STRS Retirement Calculator

How STRS Ohio calculates your benefit

Three inputs drive the formula: a fixed multiplier, your years of service, and your final average salary.

Annual Benefit = 2.2% x Years of Service x Final Average Salary
Maximum: 100% of the final average salary

A teacher with 28 years of service and a $72,000 final average salary: 0.022 x 28 x $72,000 = $44,352 per year, or $3,696 per month. That's 61.6% of average salary, paid for life. The 100% cap kicks in at 45 or 46 years depending on your exact FAS.

What's different about Ohio compared to most states is the benefit factor doesn't tier or reduce. It's a flat 2.2% on every year. Texas TRS uses 2.3%, California CalSTRS uses a tiered structure, but STRS Ohio keeps it simple.

The 3-year vs 5-year FAS rule

Your final average salary window depends on how many years of service you've accumulated. Under 25 years, STRS Ohio averages your five highest consecutive years. At 25 or more years, it drops to your three highest consecutive years.

That shift matters. For most teachers, the final few years carry their highest base pay. Shortening the window from five to three years typically produces a higher FAS. It's one concrete reason that 25 years is a meaningful threshold beyond just the retirement eligibility change. A teacher at 24 years and 11 months is using a 5-year average. Cross 25, and the same salary history now yields a higher FAS.

The calculator automatically selects the right window based on your inputs. If you're within a year of 25, run it both ways to see the FAS difference.

The three paths to unreduced retirement

STRS Ohio has three distinct eligibility gates for a full, unreduced benefit.

Age 60 with 5 years is the most accessible. A teacher who started at 55 or later and has only five years in the system can retire at 60 with a full benefit on those five years. The benefit will be modest (0.022 x 5 x FAS = 11% of salary), but it's unreduced.

Age 55 with 25 years is where career teachers tend to land. This path lets you retire five years earlier than the standard age-60 gate, which is a significant difference in both lifestyle terms and total lifetime payout. Someone who hits 25 years at age 55 collects five more years of retirement income than if they waited to 60. At $3,500 per month, that's an additional $210,000 in total benefits over those five years.

Age 65 with any service is the fallback for late-career entrants. No minimum service requirement beyond just having some. It catches the school administrator who joined the system at 60 with five years of prior experience.

The fourth scenario, ages 55 to 59 with fewer than 25 years and at least 5 years, allows retirement but at a 4% reduction per year under age 60. Three years under 60 means a 12% permanent reduction. That's not trivial. For a $3,500 monthly benefit, 12% is $420 per month, $5,040 per year, compounding into a six-figure lifetime difference if you live 25 years into retirement.

The COLA: what 2% non-compounding actually means

Members who retired on or after August 1, 2013 receive a non-compounding 2% annual COLA. The distinction from a compounding COLA is significant over a long retirement.

With a compounding COLA, each year's increase applies to the already-adjusted benefit. The base grows. With a non-compounding COLA, the increase always applies to the original base benefit. Year one you get 2% of the base. Year twenty you still get 2% of the same original base, not 2% of a benefit that's been growing for 20 years.

The calculator shows you the projected monthly benefit at years 5, 10, and 20. After 20 years, a non-compounding 2% structure adds 40% of the original benefit (20 x 2%), while a compounding 2% structure would add about 49%. The gap widens further the longer you live.

Pre-2013 retirees had a compounding 3% COLA. That's a materially better deal. If you're a newer member, the non-compounding 2% still beats states like Texas and Georgia, which have no automatic COLA at all. But it doesn't fully offset 3% annual inflation, which means purchasing power slowly erodes even with the adjustment.

What counts as qualifying service credit

Standard Ohio public school employment is the foundation. Beyond that, STRS Ohio recognizes several types of service that can be purchased or transferred:

• Ohio public school service previously withdrawn and now repurchased
• Out-of-state public school teaching service (purchasable, up to 10 years)
• Ohio public college or university service under STRS
• Approved leave of absence from an Ohio school district
• Military service (subject to specific conditions under Ohio law)

Purchasing service credit costs money, and the actuarial cost can be substantial. The math on whether to buy credit almost always depends on how close you are to a key threshold. If you need one year to reach 25 and qualify for the three-year FAS window and unreduced retirement at 55, the cost-benefit calculation is different than buying two years when you're already comfortable at 28.

STRS Ohio vs the Defined Contribution and Combined plans

STRS Ohio gives members a one-time choice among three plan structures: the Defined Benefit plan this calculator covers, a Defined Contribution plan, and a Combined plan that blends both.

The Defined Benefit plan is what the vast majority of Ohio teachers choose, and for good reason. It provides a guaranteed lifetime income based solely on your salary history and years of service. Investment market fluctuations don't affect your benefit. You can't outlive it.

The Defined Contribution plan works more like a 401(k): your contributions and employer contributions go into an individual account that you invest. The payout depends entirely on investment performance. It's portable if you leave Ohio education, which matters if you think you'll move states or leave the profession.

The Combined plan splits contributions between the DB formula and a DC account. You get a smaller guaranteed annuity plus an individual investment account.

The plan election is irrevocable. You make the choice when you join, and you're locked in. Most career Ohio teachers fare best under the Defined Benefit plan, particularly if they'll hit 25 or 30 years. The DC option is more appropriate for teachers who anticipate leaving Ohio education before vesting or who want investment control and portability.

No Social Security for most Ohio teachers

Ohio teachers generally don't participate in Social Security. STRS members contribute to STRS instead of paying Social Security taxes, and they don't accrue Social Security benefits for their teaching service.

This has two consequences worth knowing. First, your STRS pension has to carry more of your retirement income than it would for a worker who supplements a pension with Social Security. Second, if you worked in a Social Security-covered job before or after teaching, your Social Security benefit may be reduced by the Windfall Elimination Provision. WEP applies when you receive a pension from non-covered work (like STRS Ohio) and also collect Social Security based on other employment.

The Government Pension Offset is a related provision that affects Social Security spousal or survivor benefits. If your spouse is entitled to Social Security and you receive a STRS pension, your spousal benefit may be reduced by two-thirds of your STRS pension amount.

Congress has debated WEP and GPO reform for years. The Social Security Fairness Act, signed into law in January 2025, repealed both WEP and GPO retroactively, which means Ohio teachers who had Social Security benefits reduced under those provisions may now receive higher Social Security payments. If this applies to you, contact the Social Security Administration to review your benefit amount.