State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio
STRS Ohio Pension Calculator
How the STRS Ohio formula works
Ohio uses a flat multiplier. There is no age factor table and no graded schedule by hire date. Under the Defined Benefit Plan, every year of service credit is worth the same 2.2%:
Final average salary is the average of your five highest years of earnings. That definition comes from STRS Ohio’s own retirement plan comparison chart; we could not confirm it independently against the statute.
Vesting takes five years of qualifying service credit under Ohio Revised Code 3307.58. Vesting is not eligibility: five years makes the benefit yours, but says nothing about when you can start collecting.
Worked example
- Years of service credit
- 32
- Five-year final average salary
- $72,000
- Multiplier (32 × 2.2%)
- 70.4%
- Age at retirement
- 56
- Unreduced? (32 years, before May 2035)
- Yes
- Annual benefit
- $50,688
The 35-year multiplier we could not resolve
Ohio Revised Code 3307.58 still carries an enhanced schedule for members who reach 35 years: 2.5% for the first 30 years, then rising in steps to 3.3% for years 30.01 through 39. STRS Ohio’s own 2026 member materials do not mention it. They present a flat 2.2% for all years, with no enhanced tier at any service level.
We could not determine from an official STRS source whether that schedule is still operative for anyone, and we will not print those percentages as current when the system’s own materials contradict them. If you are near 35 years, ask STRS Ohio which schedule applies to your account and get the answer in writing.
When you can actually collect
Two routes lead to an unreduced benefit: age 65 with at least five years, or a service threshold at any age. The threshold is the number that keeps changing, and it steps up on fixed calendar dates rather than by hire date.
| Retiring | Unreduced | Reduced |
|---|---|---|
| Any date (age path) | Age 65 with 5+ years | Age 60 with 5+ years |
| Through May 1, 2035 | 32 years, any age | 27 years, any age |
| June 1, 2035 – May 1, 2037 | 33 years, any age | 28 years, any age |
| June 1, 2037 and after | 34 years, any age | 29 years, any age |
This rule changed twice in eleven months
In April 2025 the STRS Ohio board cut the unreduced service requirement from 33 years to 32 and raised the COLA from 1% to 1.5%. In March 2026 it extended the 32-year window by roughly five more years, through May 1, 2035, and approved a 1.6% COLA for fiscal 2027.
Check the date on whatever you have been reading. A 2024 source would have said 34 years. An early 2025 source would have said 33 years and a 1% COLA. Both are wrong now, and both still circulate.
Early retirement, and the reduction nobody publishes
The reduced paths sit five years of service below the unreduced ones: age 60 with at least five years, or 27 years at any age through May 1, 2035, 28 years from June 1, 2035 through May 1, 2037, and 29 years after that.
What that reduction costs is an open question. The statute fixes no percentage per year. ORC 3307.58 says only that the benefit is reduced “by a percentage determined by the board’s actuary.” The factors live in a benefit-calculation table STRS Ohio publishes as a PDF, which we could not retrieve.
Our early-retirement figure is an approximation
Because we could not verify the current reduction table, the calculator above applies an estimate for early retirement and labels it as one. Do not build a decision on that number. Request an official estimate from STRS Ohio instead.
The COLA is discretionary
STRS Ohio does pay a cost-of-living increase, but it is not guaranteed. The board sets it each year, and has moved it in both directions recently.
ORC 3307.67 reads: “Through July 31, 2013, the increase shall be three per cent. On and after August 1, 2013, the increase shall be two per cent” — then lets the board adjust it on its actuary’s advice. That last clause is the operative one. Two per cent is a reference point, not what retirees receive.
| Fiscal year | Increase granted |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1.0% |
| 2026 | 1.5% |
| 2027 | 1.6% |
There is also a waiting period. If your benefit commenced on or after August 1, 2013, your first increase arrives 60 months after your benefit start date — five full years at a flat dollar amount, landing exactly when new retirees assume their income is keeping up with prices.
The 14% you pay in
| Who | Rate |
|---|---|
| Member | 14.0% of compensation |
| Employer | 14.0% of compensation |
Fourteen per cent is the statutory maximum for members under ORC 3307.26, and it is among the highest member contribution rates of any public pension system in the United States. For scale, a Texas TRS member pays 8.25% and a Florida FRS member pays 3%.
Part of that gap is arithmetic rather than generosity: Ohio teachers pay no Social Security tax on this employment, so the 6.2% a covered worker sends to Social Security goes to STRS instead. What it buys is a high replacement rate — 32 years at 2.2% replaces 70.4% of your five-year average — and a pension that is close to your entire retirement income rather than a supplement. That is why the eligibility dates and the discretionary COLA matter as much as they do.
Ohio teachers and Social Security
Ohio public school employees are exempt from contributing to Social Security for that employment; anyone hired after March 31, 1986 contributes to Medicare only. Years of Ohio teaching earn no Social Security credit.
WEP and GPO are gone
Social Security you earned from other work used to be cut by the Windfall Elimination Provision, and spousal or survivor benefits by the Government Pension Offset. The Social Security Fairness Act repealed both, effective January 2024.
If you never filed because WEP or GPO would have eliminated the benefit, file now. Retroactivity is generally capped at six months, so every month of delay is money you cannot recover.
What people get wrong
- Planning around 33 or 34 years. Both were correct at some point in the last two years. Through May 1, 2035 the answer is 32.
- Assuming 35 years still buys a bigger multiplier. The statute says one thing and STRS Ohio’s member materials say another. Do not plan on it without written confirmation.
- Treating the COLA as a fixed 2%. The board has granted 1.0%, 1.5% and 1.6% in the last three fiscal years, and it is free to adjust.
- Forgetting the 60-month COLA wait. Retiring in 2027 means no increase until 2032.
- Using final salary instead of the five-year average. If your pay rose late, the average is lower, and so is the pension.
Frequently asked questions
How many years do I need to retire from STRS Ohio without a reduction?+
Thirty-two years of service at any age, for retirements through May 1, 2035. It rises to 33 years from June 1, 2035 through May 1, 2037, and to 34 years from June 1, 2037 onward. You can also retire unreduced at age 65 with at least five years, and that age path does not change.
What is the STRS Ohio multiplier?+
2.2% of final average salary per year of service, applied flat to all years, with no age factor. Ohio Revised Code 3307.58 still contains an enhanced schedule for members with 35 or more years, but STRS Ohio's own 2026 member materials show a flat 2.2% with no enhanced tier, and we could not confirm which governs. Members near 35 years should ask STRS directly.
Does STRS Ohio pay a cost-of-living adjustment?+
Yes, but it is not guaranteed. The board sets it annually under ORC 3307.67, which uses two per cent as a reference and allows adjustment on actuarial advice. The board granted 1.0% for fiscal 2025, 1.5% for fiscal 2026 and 1.6% for fiscal 2027. Benefits commencing on or after August 1, 2013 wait 60 months for a first increase.
Do Ohio teachers get Social Security?+
Not for their teaching employment. Ohio public school employees are exempt from contributing; those hired after March 31, 1986 contribute to Medicare only. Social Security earned from other work is now paid in full: the Social Security Fairness Act repealed the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset effective January 2024.
How much do STRS Ohio members contribute?+
14.0% of compensation, the statutory maximum under ORC 3307.26. Employers contribute 14.0% for the Defined Benefit Plan. The member rate is among the highest of any US public pension system, well above the 8.25% paid by Texas TRS members and the 3% paid by Florida FRS members.
Sources
Every figure on this page comes from one of the following. Where a plan does not publish a number we needed, the page says so rather than guessing.
- STRS Ohio Spring 2026 member presentation — STRS Ohio's own deck, mirrored by a university AAUP chapter
- Ohio Revised Code 3307.58 — benefit formula, vesting, and the actuary-determined early reduction
- Ohio Revised Code 3307.26 — member contribution rate and its 14% statutory maximum
- Ohio Revised Code 3307.67 — COLA statute and the board's authority to adjust it
- STRS Ohio Retirement Plan Comparison Chart — five-year final average salary
- Springfield News-Sun, March 23 2026 — FY2027 COLA and the extension of the 32-year window
- SSA — Social Security Fairness Act — WEP and GPO repeal
Why several of these are secondary sources
strsoh.org was unreachable while this page was researched. The 1.6% fiscal 2027 COLA and the extension of the 32-year window come from news reporting and from an official STRS Ohio member presentation mirrored on a third-party site, not from the system’s own website. Three items here are flagged as unverified: the five-year final average salary definition, the status of the statutory 35-year multiplier, and the current early retirement reduction table.
Keep reading
TRS Texas
Another plan outside Social Security, with a 2.3% multiplier, an 8.25% member rate and no automatic COLA.
The WEP and GPO repeal
What the Social Security Fairness Act changed, and who still needs to file.
How pension COLAs work
What a discretionary 1.5% costs you over twenty years against a guaranteed one.
Combined income
Add your STRS benefit to savings and any Social Security from other work.
Plan data on this page was last checked against the system’s own published material on September 19, 2026. Retirement systems change their rules; if you spot something out of date, tell us.