Check with Colorado PERAEstimate only, not an official benefit amount. Confirm with Colorado PERA (800-759-7372) before you decide.
Your estimated monthly benefit
Fill in the form and we'll show your HAS table, your Option 1 benefit, the date it's a full benefit, what retiring early costs, and what working longer would add.
Your road to a full benefit
Retire as planned, or work longer?
Your benefit at every age
Your annual increases
Try an example
These are our own examples, worked with PERA's HAS tables and a $6,000-a-month HAS. Tap one to load it.
- PERA 2, age 61, 29 years: PERA 2 table, 72.5% of HAS = $4,350.00 a month.
- PERA 6, age 58, 20 years (reduced): PERA 6 table, 36.9% of HAS = $2,214.00 a month, 26.2% less than a full benefit.
- PERA 7, Rule of 88 at 64 with 24 years: PERA 7 table, 60% of HAS = $3,600.00 a month.
- PERA 9, age 62, 6 years (reduced): PERA 9 table, 11.4% of HAS = $684.00 a month, 24% less than a full benefit.
PERA's own example of a part year: 33.5 years of service is 83.75% of HAS, between 33 and 34 years. Understanding Your Benefit Estimate PDF p. 1, What happens if I retire between boxes on the PERA HAS table?
First increase after a reduced retirement Check with PERA
If you joined in 2020 or later and take a reduced benefit, PERA's fact sheet says your first annual increase waits until you reach age 60 (or the age-plus-service total for a full benefit). State law says age 64 (or a total of 94).
What we use: We follow PERA's fact sheet (age 60) and mark it here.
Annual Increases fact sheet p. 2; C.R.S. 24-51-1001(3.5)(b)(VI)Common questions
How is a Colorado PERA pension calculated?
2.5% of your highest average salary (HAS) for each year of service credit, up to 100% of HAS. HAS is a monthly average of your 3 or 5 highest years of pay. That's the Option 1 amount. If you retire early, PERA's HAS table gives a smaller percentage instead.
What is the School Division?
PERA groups members by employer. The School Division is for Colorado school district employees, except Denver Public Schools, which has its own DPS Division. The rules on these pages are for the School Division.
Which PERA table am I on?
It depends on when your membership began. Joined on or after January 1, 2020: PERA 9. Joined 2011 through 2016: PERA 7. Joined 2017 through 2019: PERA 7 if your most recent 10 years are in the School or DPS Divisions, otherwise PERA 8. Joined before 2011: PERA 1 to 6, depending on whether you could already retire on January 1, 2011. Your PERA account shows it.
When can I retire with a full benefit?
It depends on your table. On PERA 9: 35 years at any age, 64 with 30 years, or 65 with 5 years. On PERA 7: 35 years at any age, 58 with 30 years, 65 with 5 years, or the Rule of 88 (age plus service) from age 58. Earlier tables use the Rule of 80 or 85.
How much does retiring early cost?
PERA doesn't use one reduction rate. Your HAS table lists the percentage you get at each age and number of years. On PERA 9, for example, 30 years at 55 pays 49% of HAS; the same 30 years at 64 pays 75%.
Do PERA retirees get a raise each year?
Yes. The annual increase (AI) is paid each July: 1% in 2026 and 2027. It can move between 0.5% and 2% under the automatic adjustment provision. Your first AI comes after 36 months of payments.
Is this the official PERA calculator?
No. This is an unofficial estimate built from PERA's booklets and HAS tables. It isn't affiliated with Colorado PERA. PERA gives official benefit estimates and decides your benefit. PERA's number is 800-759-7372.
Compare Colorado with other states
- States where teachers don't get Social Security: For most members PERA takes the place of Social Security. Most PERA employers don't take part in it.
- Teacher DROP plans by state: PERA has no DROP. To work for a PERA employer after retiring, you follow the working after retirement limits.
- Teacher pension COLAs by state: A yearly increase each July: 1.0% in 2026. It moves by up to 0.25% with funding, between 0.5% and 2.0%.
- State taxes on teacher pensions, by state: Taxed by Colorado, but each person can exclude up to $20,000 a year at 55-64 and $24,000 at 65+.
- Teacher pension multipliers by state: 2.5% × years of service × your highest average salary (best 3 or 5 years), up to 100% of that average.
- Teacher retirement age by state: Depends on hire date. Older members: a Rule of 80 to 90 (age + years). Joined 2020 or later: 35 years at any age, 64 with 30, or 65 with 5.
Plain-English guides
How your pension works
Which PERA table am I?PERA 1 to PERA 9: your membership date and January 1, 2011 decide it. Plus a note on Denver Public Schools.→Rule of 80, 85, 88 and 90Age plus service for a full benefit, the minimum ages, and every way to qualify on each table.→Reduced retirement tablesEarly retirement percentages read straight from PERA's nine HAS tables, with dollar examples.→The formula and your HAS2.5% a year of service, the 3- or 5-year HAS, the 8% and 15% raise cap, and money purchase.→Buying service creditRefunded accounts and non-covered work: what you can buy, and what a year adds.→Colorado PERA glossaryPlain-English definitions of HAS, the AI, cobeneficiary and the other PERA terms.→
Planning your exit
After you retire
Working after retirement110 days or 720 hours a year, 140 days if designated, critical shortages, and the 5% a day cut.→The annual increase (AI)1.0% each July for now, the automatic adjustment provision, and when your first AI comes.→PERACare and the subsidyUp to $230 a month before Medicare and $115 with it, by years of service.→Death and survivor benefitsWhat your family receives before and after you retire, as a percent of HAS.→
More calculators
These pages cover the PERA benefit structure for the School Division. Denver Public Schools employees are in the DPS Division; members whose DPS service began before 2010 may have a DPS benefit structure account with its own rules, which we don't model. More on DPS. PERA's booklets describe no DROP program. Your PERA Benefits p. 1, Program Overview; p. 13 (DPSRS merged into PERA Jan. 1, 2010); Survivor Benefits booklet p. 1, Overview
Source: Your PERA Benefits: A Summary of the Colorado PERA Defined Benefit Plan, Revised April 2026, pp. 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9-11, 12, 13, 16, 25. Also: C.R.S. 24-51-602, 24-51-603, 24-51-1001, 24-51-1502; Annual Increases fact sheet pp. 1, 1-2; Retirement Process pp. 5-6; Survivor Benefits booklet p. 1; DC Plan overview pp. 1, 3; Contribution Rates fact sheet; Automatic Adjustment fact sheet p. 1. Last reviewed .