Check with MainePERSEstimate only, not an official benefit amount. Confirm with MainePERS (800-451-9800) before you decide.
Your estimated monthly check
Fill in the form and we'll show your Full Benefit, your normal retirement age, the date it's unreduced, what retiring early costs, and what one more year adds. The formula is 2% of your average final compensation for each year of service.
Your road to a full benefit
Retire as planned, or work longer?
Your check at every age
After you retire
Try MainePERS's examples
Tap a link to load it into the calculator.
- The handbook's example: pay of $35,000, $36,000, $37,000 gives an AFC of $36,000. With 25 years at normal retirement age: $18,000 a year, $1,500.00 a month. Handbook p. 17, example
- MainePERS's sample estimate: born August 29, 1960, retiring July 1, 2022 with 27 years and an AFC of $47,250. MainePERS counts the age as 62, so there's no cut: $2,126.25 a month. Ready to Retire (2023) slides 5-7, 9 (Explanation of Estimate; Explanation of Options)
- Our example: 58 with 25 years in the age-62 group, a $60,000 AFC: 24% less, $1,900.00 a month. Handbook p. 17, Note
How your age is rounded for the early-retirement cut Check with MainePERS
MainePERS's sample estimate shows a member 61 years 10 months old as age 62 with no reduction, so it rounds age. No source states the rule (for example, whether exactly 6 months rounds up).
What we do: We round to the nearest year, with 6 months or more rounding up.
What would settle it: A MainePERS rule or estimate for a member exactly 6 months short of a birthday.Which normal retirement age applies to you Check with MainePERS
Your NRA depends on your service credit on July 1, 1993 and July 1, 2011. If you don't enter those, we estimate them from your membership date as if you had worked full time without a break.
What we do: We estimate your service on those dates from your start date unless you tell us.
What would settle it: The member's annual statement or a MainePERS estimate, which shows the NRA plan.The 5% and 10% salary caps Check with MainePERS
Raises above 5% a year, or above 10% over the three AFC years, are left out of AFC (except promotions and collectively bargained raises for retirements since Oct. 1, 2019). The calculator uses the AFC you enter, so it can't apply the caps unless you give your yearly pay.
What we do: We use the average you enter; our helper can apply the caps to yearly pay.
What would settle it: The member's last four years of earnable compensation and whether any raise was a promotion or bargained increase.Common questions
What is MainePERS?
The Maine Public Employees Retirement System. Maine public school teachers are in its State Employee and Teacher Retirement Program, together with State employees. You're vested after 5 years.
How is my pension calculated?
Your average final compensation (the average of your 3 highest years of pay) × years of service × 2%. That's the yearly Full Benefit at your normal retirement age.
What is my normal retirement age?
60, 62 or 65. It's 60 if you had 10 years of service before July 1, 1993; 62 if you had 5 years before July 1, 2011; otherwise 65.
Can I retire early?
Only with at least 25 years of service. Then you can retire at any age, with a cut for life: 6% for each year under 62 or 65, or about 2.25% a year under 60. Without 25 years you wait for your normal retirement age.
Does my pension get a raise?
Each September, once you've waited long enough, a COLA that follows the CPI-U up to 3%, on the first part of your benefit: $27,142.56 a year in 2026.
Is this the official MainePERS calculator?
No. It's an unofficial estimate built from MainePERS's Teacher Member Handbook and Maine law, not affiliated with MainePERS. MainePERS decides your benefit. Its number is 800-451-9800.
Compare Maine with other states
- States where teachers don't get Social Security: Maine teachers pay into MainePERS instead of Social Security.
- Teacher DROP plans by state: No. MainePERS has no DROP for teachers.
- Teacher pension COLAs by state: Each September: inflation (CPI-U) up to 3%, on the first part of your benefit ($27,142.56 in 2026). None if prices fall.
- State taxes on teacher pensions, by state: Maine residents can deduct all or part of the pension, up to the year's top Social Security benefit ($48,216 for 2025).
- Teacher pension multipliers by state: 2% × years of service × average of your 3 highest years of pay (they don't have to be in a row).
- Teacher retirement age by state: At your normal retirement age (60, 62 or 65) with 5 years of service. Retiring sooner with 25 years is reduced.
Plain-English guides
How your pension works
Age 60, 62 or 65?Your service before July 1, 1993 and July 1, 2011 sets your normal retirement age, and what it changes.→The benefit formulaAFC × years × 2%, the 5% and 10% caps on raises, and MainePERS's worked examples.→Early retirementOnly with 25 years: 6% a year off (about 2.25% in the age-60 group), and how your age is rounded.→Buying service creditMilitary, out-of-state, private or parochial teaching, refunded service, Peace Corps and more.→MainePERS glossaryPlain-English definitions of AFC, normal retirement age, the COLA base and other MainePERS terms.→
Planning your exit
Leaving: refund or pension?A refund of your contributions and interest, a pension later if vested, coming back, and the RMD deadline.→Taxes on your pensionMaine's pension deduction ($48,216 for 2025, less Social Security), the phase-out, and pick-up contributions.→MainePERS and Social SecurityTeachers contribute to MainePERS instead of Social Security: what the sources say.→
After you retire
Working after retirementThe 30-day wait, the 90-day limit before normal retirement age, and the August 2026 rule change.→The COLAThe CPI-U up to 3% on the first $27,142.56 (2026), paid in September, and when your first one comes.→Retiree health insuranceYour school unit's plan, and the State's 60% share of your premium from normal retirement age.→Survivor benefits and life insuranceThe refund, survivor benefit or Option 2 before retirement, and retiree group life that drops 15% a year.→
More calculators
These pages cover teacher members of the State Employee and Teacher Retirement Program. School staff whose jobs don't count as "teacher" may be in a MainePERS local district (PLD) plan or Social Security instead, with different rules. Handbook pp. 3, 6, Exceptions; Service Credit with More Than One Employer
Source: MainePERS Benefits for Teachers: Teacher Member Handbook, 2026, pp. 2-3, 6, 14, 15, 16-17, 18, 22, 23. Also: MainePERS COLA page; Ready to Retire (2023); Choosing a Benefit Payment Option (3/25); 5 M.R.S. §§ 17806, 17852. Last reviewed .