Check with IPERSEstimate only, not an official benefit amount. Confirm with IPERS (800-622-3849) before you decide.
Your estimated monthly benefit
Fill in the form and we'll show your multiplier, whether you meet the Rule of 88, the Rule of 62/20 or age 65, any early-retirement cut (split at July 1, 2012), your Option 2 amount, what working longer adds, and when you could go back to work.
Your three ways to a full benefit
Your early-retirement cut
Start as planned, or work longer?
Your benefit at every age
Going back to work
Amounts for Options 1 and 3 to 6 are labeled "Check with IPERS": IPERS doesn't publish the factors behind them.
IPERS's own examples
IPERS works these examples in its Member Handbook and its member presentation. Tap one to load it into the calculator.
- Steve: 61 with 26.5 years, $54,000, early: IPERS shows $25,606.80 a year; our calculator gives $25,606.80 a year. Member Handbook (2025), p. 43, Example 1: Retirement Benefits Payable BEFORE Normal Retirement Age
- Steve, six months later: 27 years, Rule of 88: IPERS shows $29,160.00 a year; our calculator gives $29,160.00 a year. Member Handbook (2025), p. 43, Example 2: Retirement Benefits Payable at Normal Retirement Age
- David: 32 years at 67, $90,213.63 average: IPERS shows $4,661.04 a month; our calculator gives $4,661.04 a month. IPERS Overview slides (2025), slides 17-19 and 21-27, David's Sample Retirement Estimate
IPERS doesn't give Steve's or David's birth dates. We picked dates that match their ages in the examples. See How we calculate.
Common questions
How is an IPERS pension calculated?
Your average salary times your multiplier, minus any early-retirement cut. The multiplier is 2% for each year of service up to 30 years (60%), then 1% a year up to 65% at 35 years. That gives a yearly amount; IPERS pays it monthly.
What is the Rule of 88?
If your age at your last birthday plus your years of service add up to 88 or more, and you're at least 55, you can start a full benefit with no early-retirement cut. You can also get a full benefit at 62 with 20 years (the Rule of 62/20), or at 65.
How much does IPERS cut an early retirement?
Service before July 1, 2012 is cut 3% a year before your closest normal retirement date. Service from July 1, 2012 is cut 6% a year before 65. The two parts are cut separately, and the cut is permanent.
Is my average salary my highest three or five years?
For benefits starting after June 2012, IPERS's handbook says it's the higher of your highest 3 years as of June 30, 2012 and your highest 5 years over your career. Iowa law gives the three-year figure only to members vested on June 30, 2012, so check with IPERS.
Does IPERS have a cost-of-living increase?
Not for Regular members, which includes school employees. A yearly November dividend goes only to members who retired by June 30, 1990. The Favorable Experience Dividend for later retirees was last paid in January 2014.
Is this the official IPERS calculator?
No. This is an unofficial estimate built from the Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System's Member Handbook, its other publications and Iowa law. It isn't affiliated with IPERS. IPERS can give you an official estimate; its phone number is 800-622-3849.
Compare Iowa with other states
- States where teachers don't get Social Security: IPERS members pay Social Security tax. IPERS is designed to add to Social Security and savings.
- Teacher DROP plans by state: No. IPERS has no DROP or similar program.
- Teacher pension COLAs by state: No COLA for most members. Only sheriffs and deputies retiring from July 2024 get 1.5% a year.
- State taxes on teacher pensions, by state: Iowa doesn't tax IPERS benefits if you're 55 or older on December 31, disabled, or a qualifying survivor.
- Teacher pension multipliers by state: 2% a year for your first 30 years, then 1% a year up to 35 (65% max) × your highest 5-year average salary.
- Teacher retirement age by state: Age 65, age 62 with 20 years, or the Rule of 88 (age + years = 88, from age 55).
Plain-English guides
How your pension works
Are you in IPERS?Regular membership for school employees, contribution rates, and what changed on July 1, 2012.→The benefit formula60% at 30 years, up to 65% at 35, the multiplier table, and high-five vs. high-three average salary.→Rule of 88 and early retirementThe Rule of 88, the Rule of 62/20, and the 3% and 6% cuts split at July 1, 2012.→Buying service creditBuy-backs, leaves, military, other public jobs and air time: what you can buy and what a year adds.→IPERS glossaryPlain-English definitions of the Rule of 88, bona fide retirement, FME, contingent annuitant and more.→
Planning your exit
Leaving: refund or wait?What a refund pays, your share of employer money after vesting, and the taxes.→Taxes on your pensionFederal tax, and Iowa's retirement income exclusion from 2023 for retirees 55 and older.→IPERS and Social SecurityYou pay Social Security tax on IPERS wages; how it ties into the return-to-work limit.→
After you retire
Working after retirementThe bona fide retirement table, the licensed-teacher exception to June 2027, and the $50,000 earnings limit.→No COLA: the dividendsWhy Regular members get no COLA, the November dividend for pre-1990 retirees, and the FED's history.→Retiree health insuranceIPERS lists no health plan; staying on your school's group plan until 65 under Iowa law.→Death and survivor benefitsThe death benefit before retirement, with IPERS's Mark example, and what each option leaves after.→
More calculators
IPERS has no DROP (deferred retirement option plan): none appears in its Member Handbook. Member Handbook (2025), pp. 1-2, Contents These pages cover Regular members, which includes teachers and other school employees. Member Handbook (2025), p. 3, Purpose of This Publication; p. 6, Membership Groups (Regular Membership Group) Regents university and community college employees may be in an alternative plan instead. Member Handbook (2025), p. 5, Optional Membership
Source: IPERS Member Handbook, Updated July 2025, pp. 1-2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 17, 35, 41-42, 43, 50, 61. Also: IPERS Overview slides (2025). Last reviewed .