Check with ATRSEstimate only, not an official benefit amount. Confirm with ATRS (501-682-1517) before you decide.
Your estimated monthly check
Fill in the form and we'll show your straight life benefit, the date it's a full benefit, what retiring early costs, when T-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
T-DROP
After you retire
Try ATRS's examples
Tap a link to load it into the calculator.
- The actuary's example: age 60, 32 years (27 contributory), $35,000 FAS. $22,750 a year plus the $600 stipend: $1,945.83 a month. Actuarial valuation 2025 p. C-11
- Early at 56 with 26 years (our example, ATRS's rule): 20% less for life, $2,286.00 a month. Member Handbook p. 21, Do I have a reduction on my retirement benefit if I retire early?; General Info pamphlet p. 2, Retirement Requirements
- Just under 10 years at 62 (our example): $710.94 a month. At 10 years it's $945.83. artrs.gov/multiplier (retrieved 2026-11-11); Actuarial valuation 2025 p. C-3, item 6 (Board Resolutions 2017-31 and 2017-32)
How the early cut counts months Check with ATRS
The handbook gives 10% per year (lesser of years short of 28 service or of age 60); the valuation gives 10/12 of 1% per month. Our calculator counts whole months from the retirement date to the 60th birthday (rounded up) and months short of 28 years from service in quarter-years. ATRS may round age months differently.
What would settle it: A.C.A. § 24-7-702 (blocked, see DOWNLOADS.md) or an ATRS early retirement estimate.Common questions
What is ATRS?
The Arkansas Teacher Retirement System, the pension plan for Arkansas public school teachers and other school and education employees. It pays a monthly benefit for life once you're vested (5 years of actual service).
How is an ATRS pension calculated?
Years of service × a multiplier × your final average salary (FAS), the average of your 5 highest salary years. Contributory service earns 2.15% a year if you retire with 10+ years. With 10+ years of actual service you also get a $50 monthly stipend.
When can I retire with a full ATRS benefit?
At age 60 once you're vested, or at any age with 28 years of service credit.
Can I retire early?
Yes, with 25 to 27.75 years of service before age 60. The benefit is cut 10% for each year you're short of 28 years or of age 60, whichever is smaller, for life.
What is T-DROP?
The Teacher Deferred Retirement Option Plan. With 30 years (or 28 for early entry) you can keep working while a monthly deposit builds an interest-bearing account, for up to 10 years.
Is this the official ATRS calculator?
No. It's an unofficial estimate built from ATRS's handbook, rules and planner, not affiliated with ATRS. ATRS gives official estimates and decides your benefit. Its number is 501-682-1517.
Compare Arkansas with other states
- States where teachers don't get Social Security
- Teacher DROP plans by state: Yes. With T-DROP you keep working while monthly deposits build in an account for up to 10 years, earning 3% a year.
- Teacher pension COLAs by state: 3% a year each July 1, figured on your original benefit (not compounded). The Board may give more when finances allow.
- State taxes on teacher pensions, by state: Taxed by Arkansas, but at 59 1/2 or older you can exclude up to $6,000 of pension income ($6,000 each for spouses who both have pensions).
- Teacher pension multipliers by state: 2.15% a year for contributory service (less for noncontributory service, or with under 10 years). Average of your best 5 years.
- Teacher retirement age by state: 28 years of service at any age, or age 60 once vested.
Plain-English guides
How your pension works
Contributory or noncontributory?No hire-date tiers: what paying in (or not) and the 10-year test do to your multiplier.→The benefit formulaYears × multiplier × FAS, the 5-year and 3-year FAS, the anti-spiking cap and the $50 stipend.→Retiring early28 years or age 60 for a full benefit; 25 to 27.75 years for a reduced one, with the reduction table.→Buying service creditOut-of-state, military, private school and other service you can buy, and what it counts for.→ATRS glossaryPlain-English definitions of T-DROP, residue, Normal Retirement Age and other ATRS terms.→
Planning your exit
T-DROP explained30 years for full T-DROP (28 early), the deposit with the actuary's example, interest and the Cash Balance Account.→Leaving: refund or wait?A refund of your contributions, or a benefit from 60 if you're vested.→Taxes on your pensionPre-tax contributions, the 1099-R and Arkansas's $6,000 pension exclusion.→ATRS and Social SecurityWhat ATRS's publications say, and what they don't.→
After you retire
Working after retirementThe 4-month separation, who skips it, and no earnings limit after.→The COLAA 3% simple raise every July 1 after a full year retired, with the actuary's projection.→Retiree health insuranceATRS doesn't run it: who does, and when to call.→Death and survivor benefitsThe spouse benefit, children's benefits and the $10,000 lump-sum death benefit.→
More calculators
These pages cover ATRS age and service retirement. Disability retirement, the Alternate Retirement Plans at some colleges, and Arkansas's other systems (APERS and the rest) have rules we don't model. Member Handbook pp. 22-24, Disability Retirement; Actuarial valuation 2025 p. C-1, item 4; Member Handbook p. 12, Reciprocal Service Credit; p. 17, T-DROP Enrollment; 24 CAR § 10-703(e)(3)(C)
Source: ATRS Member Handbook, 2026-2027 school year (current as of July 2026), pp. 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 21, 22, 26, 41, 46, 49, 52, 53. Also: artrs.gov/multiplier; Actuarial valuation 2025 pp. C-3, C-11; General Info pamphlet p. 2; 2026 Retirement Planner pp. 2, 3, 4, 10; T-DROP pamphlet p. 2; ATRS rules, 24 CAR §§ 10-601, 10-604, 10-605, 10-610, 10-612, 10-703. Last reviewed .