Active duty, Reserve, or Guard: see your pension by system, your CRDP vs. CRSC take-home priced side by side, and what the whole package is worth over a lifetime.
Updated for 2026 pay tables and VA rates
Your military retirement package depends on which of four systems you fall under, and the difference in lifetime value between them can exceed $400,000. High-3 pays 2.5% of your highest 36-month average basic pay per year of service. The Blended Retirement System pays 2.0% plus TSP matching. Final Pay and REDUX have their own formulas, and Reserve and Guard retirements convert points to equivalent years, usually starting at age 60. On top of the pension, a VA disability rating changes your actual take-home through CRDP or CRSC. This calculator computes all of it from the official 2026 pay tables: your monthly check by system, the CRDP vs. CRSC decision with dependent-adjusted VA rates, Survivor Benefit Plan costs, state tax treatment, and the lifetime value of the whole package.
Tell us about your service and retirement to calculate your pay.
Refines your High-3 estimate if you were recently promoted. Leave blank if 3+ years at this rank.
Used to estimate your retirement age for the lifetime value projection.
Based on 2026 pay tables, accurate if you're retiring now. Retiring in 2+ years? Use the override below and project forward (roughly 3 to 4% per year in annual raises).
Date of Initial Entry into Military Service. Auto-detects your retirement system and fills in your current years of service.
Used to calculate lifetime retirement value to age 85.
Auto-detected from DIEMS. Override if you opted into BRS during the 2018 window (open to members with under 12 years of service as of Dec 31, 2017).
26+ states fully exempt military retirement pay from state income tax.
Enter your VA rating to compare CRDP vs. CRSC and see your actual take-home pay.
Enter your effective tax rate (total tax ÷ total income), not your top marginal bracket. Only used for the CRDP vs. CRSC comparison: it determines whether CRSC's tax-free payment beats CRDP's fully restored (taxable) pension.
Special Monthly Compensation (SMC)
SMC-K applies for specific anatomical losses or loss of use (e.g. loss of a creative organ, hand, foot). Each adds $139.87/month regardless of rating, and it stacks on top of any SMC level below.
Levels L through R.2/T and S replace your regular rate rather than adding to it. They are awarded for aid and attendance, loss or loss of use of limbs, blindness, being housebound (S), or severe TBI (T). Dependents are still added on top, and SMC-K still stacks. Rates shown are the 2026 veteran-alone amounts.
Dependents on VA Claim
Dependents significantly affect your VA compensation at 30%+. Include anyone on your VA award letter.
SBP continues a monthly payment to your spouse after you die. The premium is deducted from your retirement pay.
SBP + DIC: Your spouse now gets both, with no offset.
As of January 2023, the "widow's tax" is fully eliminated. If your spouse receives DIC (VA survivor benefits after a service-connected death), it no longer reduces their SBP payment. They receive both in full. Many older resources still warn about this offset. It no longer exists.
SBP election is made at retirement and is very difficult to change. Premium is 6.5% of your covered base amount (deducted pre-tax). Surviving spouse receives 55% of that base amount for life. The annuity is taxable income to the survivor (DIC, by contrast, is tax-free, and since 2023 SBP and DIC stack with no offset).
Pension math follows the statutory formulas: 2.5% per year of service × your High-3 average for Final Pay and High-3 (10 U.S.C. § 1409), 2.0% per year under BRS (§ 1415), and 40% + 3.5%/year beyond 20 for REDUX, with the age-62 catch-up modeled in its notes. High-3 is auto-estimated from the official 2026 pay tables using your rank, years of service, and optional time-in-grade blending, or you can enter your own figure. Reserve and Guard pay uses points ÷ 360 × the accrual rate, with the post-2008 early-age reduction (aggregate 90-day blocks, floor age 50) and the AGR 20-year TAFMS active-duty path. Chapter 61 medical retirement takes the higher of the disability formula (capped at 75% per § 1401) and the longevity formula, applies the § 1414 CRDP rules and § 1413a CRSC caps, and computes severance (2 × monthly basic pay × years, capped at 19, floors of 3 or 6) when the DoD rating is below 30%. VA compensation uses the full 2026 dependent-rate tables including school-age children and spouse Aid & Attendance, plus the complete 2026 Special Monthly Compensation schedule: SMC-K as a stacking per-issue add-on, and levels L through R.2/T and S as replacement rates with the same dependent additions as the official table. The CRDP vs. CRSC comparison applies your effective tax rate to the taxable pension and prices both paths after tax. SBP is 6.5% of the covered base with a 55% survivor annuity; state tax uses each state's current-law treatment of military retired pay; lifetime value compounds to age 85 at an assumed 2.5% COLA.
It depends on your retirement system. High-3 (entrants from September 1980 through 2017) pays 2.5% of your highest 36-month average basic pay per year of service: 50% at 20 years, with no cap for longer careers. The Blended Retirement System (2018 and later, plus opt-ins) pays 2.0% per year, offset by government TSP matching of up to 5% of basic pay. Final Pay (pre-September 1980) uses your last month's basic pay instead of an average, and REDUX pays 40% at 20 years plus 3.5% per year beyond, with reduced cost-of-living adjustments. Reserve and Guard retirements convert lifetime points to equivalent years (points ÷ 360) and generally start paying at age 60.
Yes, in two ways. CRDP (Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay) restores your full retired pay alongside full VA compensation if you have 20+ years of service and a VA rating of 50% or higher, and it is automatic. CRSC (Combat-Related Special Compensation) replaces the VA offset for combat-related disabilities at any rating of 10%+, and unlike CRDP the CRSC payment is tax-free. You can receive one or the other, not both, and DFAS runs an annual open season to switch. Chapter 61 medical retirees with fewer than 20 years cannot receive CRDP, but can receive CRSC.
The SBP premium is 6.5% of the base amount you elect to cover (up to your full retired pay), deducted from retired pay pre-tax. After your death, your surviving spouse receives 55% of the covered base amount monthly for life, adjusted for inflation. The annuity is taxable income to the survivor. Premiums stop after 30 years of payments and age 70 (paid-up status). Since January 2023, SBP no longer offsets DIC: a survivor eligible for both receives both in full.
The default start age is 60. Every aggregate of 90 days of qualifying active duty served within a fiscal year (or across two consecutive fiscal years, for service after September 30, 2014) after January 28, 2008 reduces that age by 3 months, down to a floor of age 50. AGR members with 20+ years of Total Active Federal Military Service qualify for an active-duty retirement instead, with pay starting immediately.
More than 30 states fully exempt military retired pay from state income tax, including every state with no income tax at all. Most remaining states offer a partial exemption. For example, Georgia exempts $65,000 at any age starting in 2026, and Virginia subtracts $40,000. Washington D.C. is now the only state-level jurisdiction with no military-specific exemption, and California's $20,000 exclusion is income-limited. This calculator applies your state's current treatment automatically.