Check with SEPPEstimate only, not an official benefit amount. Confirm with SEPP (800-722-7300) before you decide.
Your estimated monthly pension
Fill in the form and we'll show your pension, any early retirement cut, the date you'd get the full amount, what working longer adds, your four survivor options and your share of retiree health premiums.
Retire as planned, or work longer?
Your pension at every age
Retiree health
Increases after you retire
The rules in brief. Hired before Jan. 1, 2012: full pension at age 62 with 5 years, age 60 with 15 years, 30 years at any age; reduced pension at 55 with 15 years or at any age with 25 years, cut 0.2% a month. Hired on or after Jan. 1, 2012: full pension at age 65 with 10 years, age 60 with 20 years, 30 years at any age; reduced pension at 55 with 15 years or at any age with 25 years, cut 0.4% a month. The cut counts months to age 60 or to 30 years, whichever is closer. The early cut counts the months you are under 60 (or short of 30 years), but the sources don't say how part of a month counts. We count whole months of age on your last day of work, and your service in whole months.
The Office of Pensions' own example
The Office of Pensions' 2026 retirement workshop runs its online calculator for a member hired before 2012. Our calculator gets the same answers. Load the example.
- $200,000 in the three highest years ÷ 36 = $5,555.56 a month. $5,555.56 × 2% × 2 years + $5,555.56 × 1.85% × 21 years = $2,380.56 a month in the example; ours: $2,380.56.
- Retiring at 55 is 60 months under age 60, so the cut is 12%: $2,094.89 a month in the example; ours: $2,094.89.
- A 100% survivor option costs 6%: $2,237.73 on the unreduced amount. See all four options. Office of Pensions workshop slides (Aug. 4, 2026), slides 19-20 (calculator inputs and results)
Your yearly statement (the Comprehensive Annual Statement) shows an estimate too, worked step by step with each step rounded: its sample shows $2,324.35 a month; ours: $2,324.35. Office of Pensions workshop slides (Aug. 4, 2026), slide 19 ('For Example Only', annual statement Block 4); Summary Plan Description (2026), p. 13, Block 4
Bought service Check with the Office of Pensions
Both of the Office of Pensions' buy-in examples add 1.85% of your monthly FAE for each year bought, the rate for service from 1997 on. The sources don't say which rate applies to other purchases. We use 1.85% for all bought service.
What would settle it: A buy-in worksheet from the Office of Pensions.
Counting months early Check with the Office of Pensions
The early cut counts the months you are under 60 (or short of 30 years), but the sources don't say how part of a month counts. We count whole months of age on your last day of work, and your service in whole months.
What would settle it: An Office of Pensions estimate for someone retiring mid-month of age, e.g. 57 years 4 months 15 days.
Common questions
How is a Delaware teacher pension calculated?
Your final average monthly pay (your three highest years of pay divided by 36) × 2% for each year before 1997, plus × 1.85% for each year from 1997 on. Delaware teachers are in the Delaware State Employees' Pension Plan (SEPP); there is no separate teachers' plan.
When can I retire with a full pension?
Hired before January 1, 2012: age 62 with 5 years, age 60 with 15 years, 30 years at any age. Hired on or after it: age 65 with 10 years, age 60 with 20 years, 30 years at any age. You also need 5 years of service in a row.
Can I retire early?
Yes, at 55 with 15 years or at any age with 25 years. The pension is cut for life by 0.2% a month if you were hired before 2012, or 0.4% a month if hired in 2012 or later, for each month you are short of age 60 or of 30 years, whichever is closer.
Does SEPP have a cost-of-living adjustment?
No automatic one. The General Assembly grants post-retirement increases one at a time; the latest, on July 1, 2026, was 2% or 1% depending on when the pension started.
How much do I pay in?
3% of your pay above the first $6,000 each calendar year if you were hired before 2012, or 5% if hired in 2012 or later.
Is this the official Office of Pensions calculator?
No. This is an unofficial estimate built from the SEPP Summary Plan Description, the Office of Pensions' 2026 workshop slides and 29 Del. C. chapter 55. It isn't affiliated with the Delaware Office of Pensions, which decides your pension. Its toll-free number is 800-722-7300.
Compare Delaware with other states
- States where teachers don't get Social Security
- Teacher DROP plans by state: No. The State Employees' Pension Plan has no DROP.
- Teacher pension COLAs by state: No automatic COLA. Increases come only when the General Assembly approves one. The latest, July 2026, was 1% or 2%.
- State taxes on teacher pensions, by state: Taxed by Delaware, but each person can exclude up to $12,500 at 60 or older, or up to $2,000 under 60.
- Teacher pension multipliers by state: 2% for years before 1997 and 1.85% for later years × your average monthly pay over your best 36 months.
- Teacher retirement age by state: Hired 2012 or later: 65 with 10 years, 60 with 20, or 30 years at any age. Hired before 2012: 62 with 5, 60 with 15, or 30 years.
Plain-English guides
How your pension works
Which plan am I in?Teachers are in SEPP. Hired before 2012 or on/after Jan. 1, 2012: what changes. University of Delaware faculty are outside it.→The formulaFAE from your three highest years × 2% before 1997 and 1.85% after, with the Office of Pensions' examples.→Early retirementAt 55 with 15 years or with 25 years: 0.2% or 0.4% a month, to age 60 or 30 years, whichever is closer.→Buying service creditSick leave, military and other service: both of the Office of Pensions' buy-in examples.→Delaware SEPP glossaryPlain-English definitions of the SEPP terms you'll run into.→
Planning your exit
Leaving: refund or wait?Vesting at 5 or 10 years, the vested pension at 62 or 65, and refunds with interest.→Taxes on your pensionFederal tax, and Delaware's $2,000 / $12,500 pension exclusion under 30 Del. C. §1106.→SEPP and Social SecurityWhat the Office of Pensions' sources say, and what they don't.→
After you retire
Working after retirementSubbing and temporary work, the three-month wait under 59½, and no earnings limit since 2025. There's no DROP.→Post-retirement increasesNo automatic COLA: every increase the General Assembly granted since 2012, and who got it.→Retiree health insuranceHow much of the State share the State pays, by hire date and years, including the 2025 schedule.→Death and survivor benefits75% of the pension if you die while working, 50% of a vested pension, and the $7,000 burial benefit.→
More calculators
The State Employees' Pension Plan has no DROP. Summary Plan Description (2026), Table of Contents, pp. 3-5 (no DROP or deferred-retirement option section) Retirees who go back to work follow the return-to-work rules instead.
Source: State Employees' Pension Plan Summary Plan Description, 2026 edition (PDF dated May 14, 2026), pp. 3-8, 13, 18, 22-24. Also: Office of Pensions workshop (Aug. 4, 2026), slides 7-8, 19-20; Office of Pensions SEPP FAQs; Office of Pensions SEPP page; 29 Del. C. § 5501. Last reviewed .