Military retirement pay calculator
Military retired pay is a multiplier times a retired pay base. Pick your plan, enter your years of service and your base (your average of the highest 36 months of basic pay, or your final basic pay under Final Pay), and see the monthly amount before taxes and deductions.
High-36, REDUX and BRS: the average of your highest 36 months of basic pay. Final Pay: your final basic pay.
Monthly retired pay, High-36
$3,000.00
- Multiplier
- 50%
- Yearly
- $36,000.00
Before taxes, Survivor Benefit Plan premiums and other deductions. Cost-of-living increases are not included.
| Plan | Multiplier | Monthly |
|---|---|---|
| High-36 | 50% | $3,000.00 |
| Final Pay | 50% | $3,000.00 |
| REDUX (before 62) | 40% | $2,400.00 |
| Blended (BRS) | 40% | $2,400.00 |
How it is calculated
The Department of Defense describes every regular retirement plan the same way: a percentage multiplier applied to a retired pay base. Under Final Pay and High-36, each year of service is worth 2.5%, so 20 years is 50%. Under the Blended Retirement System it is 2% a year, so 20 years is 40%. Under REDUX, the High-36 multiplier is cut by 1 percentage point for each year under 30 until age 62, when it is restored to the full High-36 multiplier. Months of service count as twelfths of a year.
Which plan is yours
| Plan | Who it covers (DoD) |
|---|---|
| Final Pay | Entry before September 8, 1980 |
| High-36 | Entry on or after September 8, 1980, but before August 1, 1986, or on or after August 1, 1986 without choosing the Career Status Bonus and REDUX |
| REDUX | Entered on or after August 1, 1986, but before January 1, 2003, and elected the $30,000 Career Status Bonus |
| Blended (BRS) | First entered on or after January 1, 2018 (automatic), or entered by December 31, 2017 and opted in during the opt-in period |
The date that decides it is your Date of Initial Entry to Military Service (DIEMS). DoD notes it is fixed: for example, it is the day you reported to a service academy or entered the delayed entry program, not your graduation or ship date, and leaving and rejoining does not change it.
What the calculator leaves out
- Cost-of-living increases. Final Pay, High-36 and BRS get the full yearly COLA; REDUX gets one percentage point less (not below zero), with a one-time catch-up at 62.
- The BRS lump sum option, which pays 25% or 50% of estimated retired pay up front in exchange for reduced retired pay until full Social Security retirement age.
- Disability retirement, which uses the higher of the disability percentage or the years-of-service multiplier, limited to 75% by law.
- Reserve and Guard retirement, which counts retirement points and qualifying years and has its own rules for when retired pay begins.
- Taxes and deductions such as Survivor Benefit Plan premiums.
The Department of Defense publishes its own High-36, Final Pay, REDUX and BRS calculators at militarypay.defense.gov for a full estimate with basic pay tables and COLA. Use them, and your service's retirement office, for the official numbers.
Check our work
Every figure on this page was read from these official documents. Follow the links and compare.
- Military RetirementDepartment of Defense, Military Compensation and Financial Readiness. Read on November 13, 2026.
- Blended Retirement SystemDepartment of Defense, Military Compensation and Financial Readiness. Read on November 13, 2026.