Check with West Virginia TRSEstimate only, not an official benefit amount. Confirm with West Virginia TRS (800-654-4406) before you decide.
Your estimated monthly benefit
Fill in the form and we'll show your tier, your Straight Life benefit, when you reach a full benefit (60 with 5 years, 55 with 30 years or any age with 35 years in Tier I; 62 with 10 years in Tier II), what retiring early means, what working longer adds, and when you could go back to work.
Your ways to a full benefit
Your early-retirement reduction
Start as planned, or work longer?
Your benefit at every age
Unused sick and annual leave
Going back to work
Health insurance before Medicare
"Up to" amounts and the Joint & Survivor and 10 Year Certain options are labeled "Check with CPRB": CPRB doesn't publish the factors that reduce them. CPRB is the West Virginia Consolidated Public Retirement Board, which runs West Virginia TRS.
Try an example
CPRB doesn't publish worked examples, so these are our own, run through the same calculator. Tap one to load it. How the numbers work: the formula, retirement ages and your tier.
- Tier I, 54 with 30 years on $60,000: up to $3,000 a month, reduced (Check with CPRB).
- The same teacher a year later: 55 with 31 years: $3,100 a month, full benefit.
- Tier I, 53 with 30 years: up to $3,000 a month, about 2 years before 55 (Check with CPRB).
- Tier II, 62 with 12.75 years on $52,000: $1,105.00 a month, full benefit.
Common questions
How is a West Virginia TRS pension calculated?
2% of your final average salary for each year of service credit. Your final average salary is the average of your 5 highest years of pay in your last 15. For example, 30 years on $60,000 gives $36,000 a year, or $3,000 a month, under the Straight Life option.
When can I retire with a full benefit?
Tier I (joined before July 1, 2015): at 60 with 5 years, 55 with 30 years, or any age with 35 years. Tier II (joined on or after July 1, 2015): at 62 with 10 years of contributing service. These ages apply if you're still working in a West Virginia TRS job when you retire.
Can I retire early?
Yes. Tier I members under 55 with 30 to 35 years can retire with a reduced benefit. Tier II members can retire with a reduced benefit at 60 with 10 years, 57 with 20 or 55 with 30. CPRB doesn't publish how big the reduction is, so ask CPRB for an estimate.
Does West Virginia TRS have a cost-of-living increase?
Not an automatic one, as far as we can tell from the law. Retirees have had one-time payments and minimum-benefit increases only when the Legislature passed them, most recently in 2023. Check with CPRB.
Does West Virginia TRS have a DROP?
No. There's no deferred retirement option plan in CPRB's brochures, its rules or the law.
Is this the official West Virginia TRS calculator?
No. This is an unofficial estimate built from the brochures of CPRB (the West Virginia Consolidated Public Retirement Board, which runs West Virginia TRS) and West Virginia law. It isn't affiliated with CPRB. CPRB can give you an official estimate; call 800-654-4406.
Compare West Virginia with other states
- States where teachers don't get Social Security
- Teacher DROP plans by state: No. West Virginia TRS has no DROP.
- Teacher pension COLAs by state: No automatic COLA. Increases have come only when the Legislature passed one, like 2023's one-time bonuses.
- State taxes on teacher pensions, by state: Taxed by West Virginia, but you can subtract up to $2,000 a year of TRS income at any age, more at 65+.
- Teacher pension multipliers by state: 2% × years of service × average of your 5 highest years within your last 15.
- Teacher retirement age by state: Tier I: 60 with 5 years, 55 with 30, or 35 years at any age. Tier II: 62 with 10 years.
Plain-English guides
How your pension works
Tier I or Tier II?The July 1, 2015 split, vesting, and the two tiers side by side. Plus the closed TDC plan.→The benefit formula2% x final average salary x years, and the 5 highest of your last 15 years.→Full and early retirement agesTier I 60/5, 55/30 or 35 years; Tier II 62/10, with reduced routes at 60, 57 and 55.→Service credit: leave, out-of-state, militaryTurning unused sick and annual leave into service (Tier I), buying out-of-state teaching, and more.→West Virginia TRS glossaryPlain-English definitions of final average salary, bona fide separation, Joint & Survivor and more.→
Planning your exit
Leaving: refund or wait?A refund of your contributions plus 4% interest, or a deferred pension once you're vested. Loans too.→Taxes on your pensionThe $2,000 West Virginia subtraction, the 65+ subtraction, Social Security, city and federal tax.→West Virginia TRS and Social SecurityWhat CPRB's publications say, and don't, and how to check your own coverage.→
After you retire
Working after retirementThe SB 712 60-day wait from August 2025, the 140-day limit, and critical-need substitutes.→No automatic COLAWhy your benefit stays flat unless the Legislature acts, and what that means.→Retiree health insurance (PEIA)PEIA premiums before Medicare by years of service, Plan Year 2027, and using leave for premiums.→Death and survivor benefitsThe 50/25 spouse benefit before retirement, and what each option leaves after.→
More calculators
West Virginia TRS has no DROP (deferred retirement option plan): none appears in CPRB's brochures, rules or the law. West Virginia TRS Tier I brochure (2023); W. Va. Code §18-7A The Teachers' Defined Contribution plan (TDC) is a separate, closed plan for some people hired from July 1991 to June 2005; this calculator doesn't cover it. CPRB TDC web page, Plan Overview; W. Va. Code §18-7B-7a; CPRB annual report FY2025, pp. 36, 41, Note 2 (West Virginia TRS; TDCRS) Employees of state colleges and universities hired after June 30, 1991 are in a different plan. CPRB annual report FY2025, p. 36, Note 2 (West Virginia TRS plan description)
Source: West Virginia TRS Tier I brochure (CPRB), September 2023, pp. 1-2. Also: CPRB annual report FY2025; West Virginia TRS Tier II brochure (2023); CPRB web pages; W. Va. Code §§ 18-7A, 18-7A-3, 18-7A-17, 18-7A-23, 18-7A-25, 18-7A-25b, 18-7A-26, 18-7A-26a, 18-7A-26x, 18-7A-26y, 18-7A-28e, 18-7B-7a; CPRB rules 162 CSR 4, 162 CSR 8. Last reviewed .