Check with TRSLEstimate only, not an official benefit amount. Confirm with TRSL (225-925-6446) before you decide.
Your estimated monthly check
Fill in the form and we'll show your TRSL group, your Maximum Option benefit, the date it's a full benefit, what retiring early means, when DROP opens, and what working longer would add.
Your road to a full benefit
Retire as planned, or work longer?
Your check at every age
DROP
Try the handbook's example
Tap a link to load it into the calculator.
- TRSL's example, 30 years: 30 × $58,000 × 2.5% = $43,500 a year, $3,625 a month. Member Handbook p. 7, Benefit formula example
- Joined 2015, 20 years at age 55 (our example): up to $2,083.33 a month before TRSL's cut, 7 years before age 62. The real check is lower.
- Joined 2004, 20 years at age 50 (our example): up to $2,083.33 a month, 5 years before the cut stops (age 55 with 25 years).
- Joined 1994, age 54 with 25 years (our example): the lower 2% factor, $2,083.33 a month. At 55 with the same 25 years it would be $2,604.17 at 2.5%.
Retiring with 20 years Check with TRSL
If you joined on or after July 1, 1999 and retire at any age with 20 years, TRSL cuts your benefit by an actuarial factor. It doesn't publish the factors, so we can't show the cut.
We show your full benefit before the cut as an "up to" amount, with how many years early you'd be. If TRSL gives you your reduction, enter it and we'll apply it.
Member Handbook p. 14Common questions
How is a TRSL pension calculated?
Years of service credit × your final average compensation (FAC) × a benefit factor of 2.0% or 2.5%. TRSL's example: 30 years × $58,000 × 2.5% = $43,500 a year, $3,625 a month. That's the Maximum Option; the other options pay less.
What is TRSL?
The Teachers' Retirement System of Louisiana, the pension system for Louisiana public school teachers, administrators and some other school employees. Most members don't pay into Social Security, so TRSL is often their main retirement income.
Which TRSL group am I in?
Regular Plan members are grouped by when they joined: before July 1, 1999; July 1, 1999 to Dec. 31, 2010; Jan. 1, 2011 to June 30, 2015; or on or after July 1, 2015. For the 2011 and 2015 lines, the date you first joined any Louisiana state retirement system counts.
Can I retire with 20 years at any age?
Yes. If you joined before July 1, 1999 you get the lower 2.0% factor. If you joined later, TRSL cuts the benefit by an actuarial factor it doesn't publish. We show the benefit before that cut as an "up to" amount, with how many years early you'd be.
What is DROP?
The Deferred Retirement Option Plan. Once you qualify you can keep working for up to 36 months while your frozen benefit is paid into a DROP account. The 36 months start when you first qualify, so applying late shortens it.
Is this the official TRSL calculator?
No. It's an unofficial estimate built from TRSL's handbooks and Louisiana law, not affiliated with TRSL. TRSL gives official estimates and decides your benefit. Its number is 225-925-6446.
Compare Louisiana with other states
- States where teachers don't get Social Security: Teachers in TRSL's Regular Plan don't pay into Social Security. Plan B (school food service) members do.
- Teacher DROP plans by state: Yes. Your frozen benefit goes into a DROP account for up to 36 months while you keep working.
- Teacher pension COLAs by state: No automatic COLA. A raise needs Board and Legislature approval and enough money. You can buy a 2.5% yearly raise at retirement.
- State taxes on teacher pensions, by state: Louisiana law exempts TRSL benefits from all state income tax.
- Teacher pension multipliers by state: 2.5% for Regular Plan members who joined July 1999 or later. Earlier members get 2.0% or 2.5%; Plan B, 2.0%. Best 3 or 5 years in a row.
- Teacher retirement age by state: Depends on hire date. Joined 1999-2010: 60 with 5 years, 55 with 25, or 30 years. Joined July 2015 or later: 62 with 5.
Plain-English guides
How your pension works
Which group am I in?Regular Plan or Plan B, and the 1999, 2011 and 2015 membership dates that set your rules.→The benefit formulaService × FAC × 2.0% or 2.5%, with TRSL's own example, the salary cap and the 100% limit.→Retiring early20 years at any age: the unpublished actuarial cut, years early, and the 2.0% factor before 1999.→Buying service and sick leaveWhat you can buy, the fee, and how unused sick leave becomes service credit.→TRSL glossaryPlain-English definitions of DROP, ILSB, FAC, ACO and the other TRSL terms.→
Planning your exit
DROP explainedWho qualifies, the 36-month window that starts when you first qualify, the 2.0% trap and interest after DROP.→The ILSB lump sumUp to 36 months of benefit in one sum, and TRSL's table of what each $1,000 costs, by age.→Leaving teachingVesting at 5 years, a deferred benefit at 60 or 62, or a refund of your contributions.→Taxes on your TRSL pensionNo Louisiana income tax on TRSL benefits; federal tax, DROP withdrawals and rollovers.→Social Security and TRSLMost TRSL members don't pay into Social Security; Plan B members do.→
After you retire
Working after retirementAct 344 of 2026: the 12-month wait, age 65 and critical-shortage jobs, and the 50% of FAC limit.→Raises after retirement (PBIs)No automatic COLA: how permanent benefit increases are funded and who qualifies.→Retiree health insuranceTRSL doesn't run it: who does, and premium deductions from your check.→Death and survivor benefitsWhat a spouse and children get if a member dies, and the refund guarantee.→
More calculators
These pages cover TRSL's Regular Plan and Plan B. The closed School Lunch Plan A, the Optional Retirement Plan (ORP), disability retirement and Louisiana's other state systems (LASERS, LSERS, State Police) have rules we don't model. Member Handbook p. 4, NOTE; R.S. 11:62(11)(a); Member Handbook p. 8, What is final average compensation (FAC)?; p. 13; Member Handbook p. 6, Were you an ORP participant?; Optional programs
Source: TRSL Member Handbook: Regular Plan & Plan B, Last revised April 2026, pp. 4, 7, 8, 9, 11-12, 13, 14, 22. Also: DROP Handbook pp. 3-8, 4, 21; ILSB brochure PDF pp. 1-3, 6; Death & Survivor Benefits p. 13; La. R.S. 11:701, 11:761, 11:768, 11:783, 11:786, 11:787, 11:802. Last reviewed .