Check with TCRSEstimate only, not an official benefit amount. Confirm with TCRS (800-922-7772) before you decide.
Your estimated monthly check
Fill in the form and we'll show your plan, your monthly benefit, the date it's unreduced, what retiring early costs, and what working longer would add.
Your road to a full benefit
Retire as planned, or work longer?
Your check at every age
The member guides' own examples
TCRS's member guides work these examples. Our calculator gives the same answers. Tap one to load it.
- Legacy, age 60, 30 years: $50,000 × 1.5% × 30 = $22,500, plus 5% = $23,625 a year, $1,968.75 a month. Legacy Member Guide p. 5, Service Retirement example
- Legacy, age 55, 25 years: 60 months early × 0.4% = 24% less, $1,246.88 a month. Legacy Member Guide p. 6, Early Retirement example (24% reduction)
- Legacy, $100,000 average: 1.5% on the first $95,400 (the guide's example integration level) and 1.75% on the rest, plus 5% = $3,967.69 a month. Legacy Member Guide p. 7, Social Security Integration Calculation example
- Hybrid, age 60, 30 years: $30,000 × 1% × 30 = $9,000 a year, $750.00 a month (age plus service is 90), plus the 401(k). Hybrid Member Guide p. 6, Service Retirement Formula example
- Hybrid, age 60, 25 years (early): $7,500 × the guide's factor 0.612933 = $4,597 a year, about $383 a month. Hybrid Member Guide p. 7, early retirement example
Hybrid early retirement Check with TCRS
TCRS cuts a Hybrid early benefit by an actuarial factor that depends on how far you are from full retirement. It publishes only one example: 0.612933 at age 60 with 25 years.
We show your unreduced Hybrid benefit as an "up to" amount. Your real check will be lower. For age 60 with exactly 25 years we use the published factor.
Hybrid Member Guide p. 6-7Legacy before 55 Check with TCRS
If you retire from the Legacy Plan before 55 with 25 or more years, TCRS adds a second, actuarial cut to bring the benefit to its value at 55. TCRS doesn't publish that factor.
We show the benefit after the 0.4%-a-month cut as an "up to" amount. Your real check will be lower.
Legacy Member Guide p. 7Common questions
How is a TCRS Legacy pension calculated?
Your average final compensation (your five highest-paid years in a row) times 1.5% times your years of service, with 1.75% instead of 1.5% on any part of your average above the Social Security integration level. Then teachers get 5% more. Divide by 12 for the monthly amount.
How is the Hybrid Plan pension calculated?
Your average final compensation times 1% times your years of service. The Hybrid Plan also has a 401(k) account, which is separate and pays whatever its balance is.
Which TCRS plan am I in?
Teachers hired before July 1, 2014 who kept their membership are in the Legacy Plan. Teachers hired on or after July 1, 2014 are in the Hybrid Plan. If you took a refund, or left before you were vested and stayed out more than seven years, and came back after June 30, 2014, you're in the Hybrid Plan.
When can I retire with a full benefit?
Legacy: at 60, or with 30 years at any age. Hybrid: at 65, or when your age plus years of service add up to 90.
How much does retiring early cost?
Legacy: 0.4% for each month early, up to 60 months (24%), with an extra cut under 55. Hybrid: an actuarial cut TCRS doesn't publish, except for one example. Where the cut isn't published we show the most your check could be, labeled "up to".
Is this the official TCRS calculator?
No. This is an unofficial estimate built from TCRS's member guides and reports. It isn't affiliated with TCRS or the Tennessee Department of Treasury. TCRS gives official benefit estimates, and it decides your benefit. RetireReadyTN's number is 800-922-7772.
Compare Tennessee with other states
- States where teachers don't get Social Security: TCRS members pay into Social Security. Your TCRS pension isn't reduced by it.
- Teacher DROP plans by state: No. TCRS has no DROP or similar program for teachers.
- Teacher pension COLAs by state: Each July after 12 months: inflation (CPI) up to 3%, if it rose at least 0.5%. Hybrid plan raises can be cut if costs pass limits.
- State taxes on teacher pensions, by state
- Teacher pension multipliers by state: Legacy: 1.5% a year, raised 5% (about 1.575%). Hybrid: 1%. Average of your best 60 months in a row.
- Teacher retirement age by state: Hybrid Plan: 65 with five years, or the Rule of 90 (age + years = 90). Legacy Plan: 60 once vested, or 30 years.
Plain-English guides
How your pension works
Legacy or Hybrid?Your hire date decides your plan. The two side by side.→The benefit formulaLegacy's 1.5% and 1.75% plus 5%, Hybrid's 1%, with TCRS's own examples.→Retiring earlyLegacy's 0.4% a month, the under-10-years limit, retiring before 55, and the Hybrid cut.→The Hybrid Plan explainedA 1% pension plus a 401(k): the Rule of 90, contributions and cost controls.→Buying service creditWithdrawn, military, leave, sick leave and out-of-state service, and what it costs.→TCRS glossaryPlain-English definitions of the TCRS terms you'll run into.→
Planning your exit
Leaving teaching: refund or keep it?Vesting, the four-month refund wait, losing membership, and the 401(k).→Taxes on your TCRS pensionFederal tax on your benefit and on a refund, and what the sources say about Tennessee.→Social Security and TCRSTennessee teachers get both. The Social Security Leveling option.→
After you retire
Working after retirementThe 60-day separation, 120-day work, substitutes, and the 70% programs.→The TCRS COLAUp to 3% each July, tied to the CPI, after 12 months of checks.→Retiree health insuranceWho handles it, and the service tiers for teacher retiree premiums.→Death and survivor benefitsWhat your family receives before and after you retire.→
More calculators
TCRS has no DROP program for teachers. These pages cover K-12 teachers in the TCRS Legacy Plan for Teachers and the Hybrid Plan. State and higher-education employees, local government employees and the Optional Retirement Plan have different rules that we don't model. Legacy Member Guide p. 2, Introduction
Source: TCRS Legacy Retirement Plan for Teachers Member Guide and Hybrid Retirement Plan for State Employees and Teachers Member Guide, Legacy 12/2024; Hybrid revised 07/2024, Legacy Member Guide pp. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; Hybrid Member Guide pp. 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11. Also: Legacy actuarial valuation 2025 p. G-4; Legacy flyer p. 1; TCRS annual report FY2025 p. 36; Hybrid actuarial valuation 2025 p. 29; Hybrid flyer p. 1. Last reviewed .