High-3 Calculator

Your High-3 is the highest average basic pay you earned during any three consecutive years of service, and it is the salary figure in the FERS and CSRS annuity formulas. Enter each rate of basic pay and the date it took effect, and this calculator averages them over three years, weighting each rate by the days it was in force.

What counts toward the High-3?

Basic pay counts: your scheduled rate for your grade and step plus locality pay or a special rate supplement. Overtime, bonuses and awards, General Schedule night differential, holiday pay and lump-sum annual leave payouts do not count. Unused sick leave adds to service in the annuity formula but never to the High-3.

Enter rates as annual figures, the way they appear on your SF-50 or Leave and Earnings Statement. If you worked part time, OPM uses the full-time rate for the High-3 and prorates the annuity separately; that proration is outside this calculator.

How is the three-year average weighted?

Each rate counts for the number of days it was in effect inside the three-year window, so a raise in the final months moves the average only slightly. The calculator adds rate × days for every period and divides by the total days in the window, which is 1,095 or 1,096 depending on leap years.

For most people the highest three years are the last three before retirement, so the window ends on your retirement date by default. If your pay was higher earlier — after a downgrade, for example — move the end date back to test that period; OPM uses whichever three consecutive years give the highest average.

Worked example: three yearly raises

Suppose pay rose from $100,000 to $104,000 on January 14, 2024 and to $106,000 on January 12, 2025, and the employee retires January 8, 2026. The three-year window holds 1,096 days. The High-3 is $103,304.74, below the final salary of $106,000.

$113,222,000 ÷ 1,096 days = $103,304.74. These salary figures are illustrative round numbers, not rates from an OPM table.

What High-3 do I need for a target pension?

Divide the yearly annuity you want by your multiplier times your years of service. A $30,000 annuity after 30 years at 1% needs a High-3 of $100,000. At 62 or older with 20 years, the 1.1% multiplier means a $22,000 annuity also needs $100,000. The reverse box runs this for you.

The answer is before any MRA+10 age reduction or survivor reduction; add those in the FERS retirement calculator once you know your High-3. If the needed figure is far above your current pay, the gap shows how much service length or retirement age matters compared with salary.

Can I fill in rates from the GS table?

Yes, for 2026. On any row, choose a grade, step and locality area, and the calculator inserts the 2026 locality rate from OPM's tables, the same figure as the GS pay calculator. Earlier years must be typed in, because this site does not yet store pre-2026 locality tables.

If you are projecting forward, remember that the 2027 rates are proposed at no change from 2026. Typing a guessed future raise into a row is fine for planning, but label it as your assumption when you compare results.

Printed from https://knowyourpension.org/high-3-calculator/ · Last updated October 29, 2026 · Independent reference. Not affiliated with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management or any federal agency. Estimates only — your official figures come from your agency, your SF-50 and OPM.