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Ohio · STRS Ohio · Methods & sources

How we calculate STRS Ohio estimates

Every number on the Ohio pages comes from STRS Ohio's 2026|2027 brochures. Here's what the calculator does, where each rule comes from, and what it leaves out.

  1. 1

    Pick your plan

    Defined Benefit Plan members get a full estimate. Defined Contribution members are told there's no pension to estimate; Combined Plan members see the plan's small pension. Both can see what an account balance might buy.

    Plan Options, pp. 3-4; Plan Summary, pp. 28-29 and 34-35; ORC 3307.25
  2. 2

    Project your service

    We add the time from today to your retirement date to the service credit you enter, one year per year. Dates move to the first of a month.

    Our assumption (see below)
  3. 3

    Check eligibility

    We test your age and service on the retirement date against STRS Ohio's schedule for that date. An age counts once it's reached before the first of the month.

    Plan Summary, pp. 14-15, Service retirement; Plans of Payment, p. 1; Eligibility Requirements web page
  4. 4

    Apply the formula

    2.2% of final average salary for each year of service, capped at 100%.

    Plan Summary, pp. 16-17, Salary-related benefit; Plans of Payment, pp. 2-3, Benefit calculation; ORC 3307.58(D)(3)
  5. 5

    Apply the reduction

    For a reduced benefit we read STRS Ohio's benefit calculation table at your whole age and whole years and apply that cut to your exact service.

    Plan Summary, pp. 16-17 and 22-27; Plans of Payment, pp. 2-3 and 30-35; Benefit Calculation Table web page
  6. 6

    Show the PLOP

    The lump-sum range is 6 to 36 times your monthly benefit; the monthly cost uses STRS Ohio's printed cost factor for your age.

    Plans of Payment, pp. 14-15, PLOP Cost Factor Table; Survivor Benefits, pp. 14-15

Each step is explained in more detail in its own guide: which plan, the benefit table, early retirement and plans of payment. To run them on your own dates, use the STRS Ohio calculator.

What the calculator doesn't cover

Assumptions you should know

The "work longer" comparison keeps your final average salary the same. Service grows one year per year until your retirement date. Ages count from the first of the month after your birthday, the way STRS Ohio's retirement dates work.

How we check the math

The calculator runs on a small engine that reads every rule from one data file, with a brochure page for each rule. Automated tests check it against the worked examples printed in STRS Ohio's brochures, and check that every cell of the benefit tables lines up with STRS Ohio's eligibility rules.

How we check the math (STRS Ohio)
STRS Ohio exampleBrochureOur engineWhere
Table worksheet: age 59, 30 years, $50,000 (yearly)$27,400$27,400Survivor Benefits, pp. 12-13, Retirement-based Benefit Sample Estimate Match
Same, survivor at 91.75% (monthly)$2,095$2,095Survivor Benefits, pp. 12-13, Retirement-based Benefit Sample Estimate Match
34 years, $80,000 (yearly)$59,840$59,840Plan Options, p. 6 Match
PLOP cost at 57, $25,000$175.75$175.75Plans of Payment, pp. 14-15 Match
Combined Plan PLOP at 60, $25,000$181.50$181.50Plans of Payment (Combined), pp. 16-17 Match
Death benefit deduction, bought at 60 and 65$3.09$3.09Plans of Payment, pp. 22-25 Match
Death benefits paid within 6 months$2,007.24$2,007.24Plans of Payment, pp. 22-25 Match
Dependent-based, 3 survivors (monthly)$1,875$1,875Survivor Benefits, pp. 6-7, Sample Estimates #1-#3 Match
Service-based, 24 years: spouse$1,054.69$1,054.69Survivor Benefits, pp. 10-11, Sample Estimates #1-#2 Match
Service-based, 24 years: child$632.81$632.81Survivor Benefits, pp. 10-11, Sample Estimates #1-#2 Match
Disability retirement (yearly)$35,000$35,000Plan Summary, pp. 12-13, Disability Retirement Example Match
Disability allowance (yearly)$24,200$24,200Plan Summary, pp. 14-15, Disability Allowance Example Match
Defined Contribution deposits, $42,000$10,537$10,537Plan Options, p. 7 Match
Combined Plan pension, 32 years$25,600$25,600Plan Options, p. 10 Match
Annuity, $450,000 at 60$2,172$2,172Plans of Payment (DC), pp. 2-3 Match
Annuity, $100,000 at 55$440$440Plans of Payment (Combined), pp. 4-5 Match

STRS Ohio's brochures drop cents in some monthly examples (for example $2,916 for $2,916.67); we count those as a match.

Things to check with STRS Ohio

The brochures don't settle these points. Each is labeled where it shows up on the site.

Check with STRS Ohio

STRS Ohio's yearly increase was set to zero in 2017. Since then the board has granted one-time increases: 3% (2022-23), 1% (2023-24), 1.5% (2025-26) and 1.6% (2026-27), each for people retired at least about five years.

That history. No increase is assumed for future years unless you enter one.

AV 2025, p. 71; KEA
Check with STRS Ohio

If you were eligible to retire on July 1, 2015, you get the greater of today's formula or what you'd have received retiring that day.

Old rates for years 31-39 and 2.2% for any year past 39; all service treated as qualifying for the enhanced rates unless you say otherwise.

ORC 3307.58(D)(2), (F)
Check with STRS Ohio

Ohio public employees, including STRS Ohio members, don't pay into Social Security for their public service.

Only the LSC statement.

LSC p. 2
Check with STRS Ohio

Choosing a survivor plan or a guaranteed period lowers your monthly benefit by an amount STRS Ohio works out from your and your beneficiary's ages. STRS Ohio doesn't print those factors.

We show the Single Life Annuity and the PLOP cost (which STRS Ohio does publish), but no dollar figure for survivor plans.

Plan Summary, pp. 22-23; Plans of Payment, pp. 30-31
Check with STRS Ohio

STRS Ohio pays a share of retiree health premiums based on years of service. For people retiring from August 2032, the full share needs the same years as an unreduced pension. That's 32 through May 2035; we don't have the steps after that.

The June 30, 2025 health care valuation schedule (full share at 32 years) for retirements Aug. 2032 - May 2035, and nothing after.

2026 Monthly Premiums, footnote 3; HC AV 2025, p. 40
Check with STRS Ohio

STRS Ohio's tables show reduced benefits only for whole years of service and whole ages. Your real benefit counts the part year too.

For a reduced benefit we read the table at your whole years and whole age, and apply that cut to 2.2% of your exact service. That's usually a little low.

Plan Summary, pp. 22-23; Plans of Payment, pp. 30-31
Check with STRS Ohio

For retirements from June 2035, STRS Ohio's printed tables start at age 52.

Below 52 we use the age-52 figure for your years of service. In the 2025-2035 table the figure is the same from 44 to 52 for these rows, so it should hold, but it isn't printed.

Plan Summary, pp. 26-27; Benefit Calculation Table web page

Where sources disagree

Sources

Most STRS Ohio brochures print two pages per sheet, so cites often name a pair of pages. Last reviewed Nov. 12, 2026.

Found a mistake?Email [email protected] with the page, what you entered, and what STRS Ohio told you. We fix confirmed errors and note the change.
The official numbersOnly STRS Ohio can tell you your actual benefit. Use your Online Personal Account or call STRS Ohio at 888-227-7877.

Source: STRS Ohio, Understanding Your STRS Ohio Benefits: Plan Summary, 2026|2027 (form 20-101, Aug. 2026), pp. 12-13, 14-15, 16-17, 22-27, 22-23, 26-27, 28-29, 34-35. Also: STRS Ohio Retirement Plan Options (new-member selection brochure), Form 20-609, 6/26, pp. 3-4, 6, 7, 10. Also: STRS Ohio Service Retirement and Plans of Payment (Defined Benefit Plan), 2026|2027 (form 15-126, 6/26), pp. 1, 2-3, 14-15, 22-25, 30-35, 30-31. Also: STRS Ohio Eligibility Requirements, Saved by the user Nov. 12, 2026. Also: STRS Ohio Benefit Calculation Table (June 1, 2025-May 1, 2035), Saved by the user Nov. 12, 2026. Also: STRS Ohio Survivor Benefits (Defined Benefit Plan), 2026|2027 (form 16-100, 6/26), pp. 6-7, 10-11, 12-13, 14-15. Also: STRS Ohio Service Retirement and Plans of Payment (Combined Plan), 2026|2027 (form 20-643, 6/26), pp. 4-5, 16-17. Also: STRS Ohio Service Retirement and Plans of Payment (Defined Contribution Plan), 2026|2027 (form 20-642, 6/26), pp. 2-3. Also: STRS Ohio 2026 Monthly Premiums (effective Jan. 1, 2026), Form 21-135, 6/25. Background: Ohio Revised Code Chapter 3307; STRS Ohio Actuarial Valuation as of June 30, 2025 (Cheiron); STRS Ohio board news of March 20, 2026, as reprinted by the Kent Education Association; Ohio Legislative Service Commission, Ohio's State Retirement Systems (2024); STRS Ohio Retiree Health Care Valuation as of June 30, 2025. Last reviewed .