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Military Retirement Pay Calculator

Every system. Every component. Every variable — in one place.

Fill in your service profile below to see your estimated retirement pay.

Retirement Projection

Tell us about your service and retirement to calculate your pay.

Refines your High-3 estimate if you were recently promoted. Leave blank if 3+ years at this rank.

Used to estimate your retirement age for the lifetime value projection.

Auto-estimated:

Used to calculate lifetime retirement value to age 85.

Date of Initial Entry into Military Service. Auto-detects your retirement system.

Auto-detected from DIEMS. Override if you opted into BRS during the 2018 window.

26+ states fully exempt military retirement pay from state income tax.

VA Disability & Retirement Pay Optimizer

Enter your VA rating to compare CRDP vs. CRSC and see your actual take-home pay.

Only used for the CRDP vs. CRSC comparison below — it determines whether CRSC's tax-free payment beats CRDP's fully restored (taxable) pension.

+$139.87/ea

SMC-K applies for specific anatomical losses or loss of use (e.g. loss of a creative organ, hand, foot). Each adds $139.87/month regardless of rating.

Dependents significantly affect your VA compensation at 30%+. Include anyone on your VA award letter.

Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP)

SBP continues a monthly payment to your spouse after you die. The premium is deducted from your retirement pay.

SBP + DIC: Your spouse now gets both — no offset.

As of January 2023, the "widow's tax" is fully eliminated. If your spouse receives DIC (VA survivor benefits after a service-connected death), it no longer reduces their SBP payment. They receive both in full. Many older resources still warn about this offset — it no longer exists.

SBP election is made at retirement and is very difficult to change. Premium is 6.5% of your covered base amount. Surviving spouse receives 55% of that base amount, tax-free, for life.

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