California Pension Calculator

California Public Employees' Retirement System: How the pension works

Benefit formula

The formula above reflects the base structure. Actual benefits depend on your membership tier, bargaining unit, hire date, and whether any additional credits apply. Members hired after benefit restructuring (which happened in most states between 2008 and 2014) are often in less generous tiers than longer-tenured employees.

If you're unsure which tier you're in, your annual benefit statement from CalPERS will show your projected benefit and current accrued amount. Compare those figures to the formula to back into your effective multiplier.

Covered employees

California Public Employees' Retirement System covers state employees, school employees outside CalSTRS, and employees of local public agencies that contract with CalPERS (public school educators use CalSTRS). If you're a California public employee and aren't sure whether you're in CalPERS or a separate retirement system (teachers, police, fire, and judges sometimes have different plans), check your pay stub: if a pension contribution is being deducted and forwarded to CalPERS, you're in this system.

Vesting and early separation

You need 5 years of creditable service to vest. Before vesting, leaving public employment generally gets you back only your own employee contributions, if your plan required any. Once vested, you're entitled to a future pension benefit even if you leave before reaching retirement age, though you may need to wait until a specific age to start receiving payments.

Leaving before vesting and taking the contribution refund is usually a mistake unless you have a specific cash need. That money grew tax-deferred, and forfeiting the pension benefit means you gave up the employer-funded portion entirely. If you're close to the vesting date, staying is almost always worth it.

Lump sum option

CalPERS pays the pension as a monthly allowance with no lump sum option. A member who leaves all CalPERS-covered employment can take a refund of their own contributions plus interest instead, which ends their membership and every CalPERS benefit. Employer contributions are never refunded. Most members vest at 5 years of service credit; State Second Tier members need 10. Public school educators are in CalSTRS, a separate system serving more than 1 million educators and beneficiaries. CalSTRS pays its Defined Benefit Supplement account, funded by contributions on pay for service beyond one year in a school year, as a lump sum, an annuity or a mix at retirement; balances under $3,500 must be paid as a lump sum.

Since CalPERS doesn't pay a lump sum, the choices that move your numbers are when you retire and which survivor option you pick. The calculator below puts a present value on your estimated monthly benefit, in today's dollars.

What the present value calculation tells you

CalPERS won't pay this amount out, but the present value still does three jobs. It lets you compare the pension with alternatives, such as leaving for a private-sector job with a 401(k). It shows what a refund of contributions would cost you once you're vested. And it puts a number on the retirement income you've built, which feeds Social Security timing and IRA drawdown decisions.

The IRS 417(e) formula uses three segment rates to discount future pension payments back to today. At current rates (4.07%, 5.15%, 6.01% for 2026), a $2,500/month pension starting at 65 is worth about $369,000 as a single sum under the IRS 2026 mortality table. Public plans don't have to offer that amount, and most don't offer a lump sum at all.

Coordinating your CalPERS pension with Social Security

Social Security coverage depends on the position. Some state and local government jobs are outside Social Security, and those jobs don't earn Social Security benefits. Check your pay stub: if no Social Security (OASDI) tax is withheld, that job probably isn't covered. Medicare tax on its own doesn't mean the job is covered.

If you have private-sector work history where you did pay into Social Security, the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) previously reduced Social Security benefits for workers with government pensions. Both were repealed by the Social Security Fairness Act of 2023, signed January 5, 2025, effective for benefits payable after December 2023. SSA finished paying the retroactive amounts in 2025. If you think yours is missing, contact SSA.

If your public employment included Social Security contributions, which varies by state and by position, then Social Security timing still matters, and the break-even analysis is worth running separately. The Social Security break-even calculator on this site handles that calculation.