The high-3 average salary is the single most important number in your FERS retirement calculation. It is not your final salary, not your current salary, and not your average lifetime salary — it is the average of your highest three consecutive years of basic pay. Every step increase, every promotion, and every across-the-board raise in the final years of your career directly impacts your pension for life. This tool projects that number and shows you what it means in dollars.
Basic pay counts: your base GS rate plus locality pay adjustment. What does NOT count: overtime pay, night differential, Sunday premium, holiday pay, awards, bonuses, allowances, or any other form of compensation. The high-3 is purely basic pay. This is why locality matters enormously — a GS-13 Step 8 in San Francisco has a dramatically higher high-3 than the same grade and step in Alabama, permanently increasing their pension.
Section I High-3 Estimator
Project My High-3 & FERS Pension
Section II High-3 Rules
OPM defines "highest average pay" as the largest annual rate resulting from averaging your basic pay over any three consecutive years of creditable federal service. In practice, this is always the final three years because pay typically increases year over year. The rules governing what counts are precise.
| Counts Toward High-3 | Does NOT Count |
|---|---|
| Base GS pay | Overtime pay |
| Locality pay adjustment | Night differential |
| Special rate supplements | Sunday premium pay |
| Within-grade step increases | Holiday pay |
| Promotion pay increases | Performance bonuses / cash awards |
| Across-the-board pay raises | Allowances of any kind |
| Pay received while on paid leave | Severance pay |
Section III FERS Pension Formula
The formula and when 1.1% applies
Standard: Annual Pension = Years of Service × 1.0% × High-3. The enhanced multiplier: Annual Pension = Years of Service × 1.1% × High-3 — this applies only if you retire at age 62 or older AND have at least 20 years of creditable service at the time of retirement. The 0.1% difference compounds over a long retirement. A GS-14 with a $150,000 high-3 and 30 years of service receives $45,000/year at 1.0%, or $49,500/year at 1.1% — $4,500 more per year for life, purely from the age and service threshold.
Section IV Maximizing Your High-3
Every dollar in the final three years is worth more than earlier raises
- Time your step increases: A within-grade step increase that lands in Year 1 of your high-3 window affects all three years of the average. One that lands in Year 3 only affects the final year. Tracking your timeline lets you time retirement around step increases.
- Locality matters permanently: Moving to a higher-locality area in the final three years of your career raises your high-3 — and your pension — forever. The reverse is also true: a lateral move to a lower-locality area in your final years reduces your pension permanently.
- Promotions in final years are maximally valuable: A promotion from GS-13 to GS-14 three years before retirement adds that salary differential to all three years of the average. The same promotion fifteen years out only affects the final two or three years of the high-3.
- Paid leave counts: Annual leave taken during employment counts as basic pay toward the high-3. The lump-sum leave payout at retirement does NOT count — only leave taken as paid time while actively employed.
- Don't count overtime: No matter how many overtime hours you work in your final three years, it does not add a single dollar to your high-3. Overtime can significantly boost take-home pay, but it is invisible to the pension calculation.
Section V Frequently Asked Questions
OPM looks for the highest three consecutive years anywhere in your career — it does not have to be the final three years. This matters for employees who had temporary high pay (like acting positions with pay adjustments) earlier in their career that was higher than their final pay. OPM will automatically use whichever three consecutive years produce the highest average. You can request that OPM identify your optimal high-3 window when processing your retirement application.
No, military buyback affects your years of service — not your high-3 average. The high-3 is calculated from your federal civilian basic pay only. Military pay does not count in the high-3 calculation even after you complete the buyback. What changes with buyback is the multiplier applied to your high-3 — more years of service means a larger percentage of the high-3 paid out annually.
If your basic pay (including locality) hits the EX-IV cap of $197,200 in 2026, your high-3 is effectively capped there. This primarily affects GS-15 employees in the highest-locality areas (San Francisco, New York, DC). The pension calculation uses actual pay received — so if your pay was capped, your high-3 reflects the cap, not the uncapped amount. For GS-14s and below, the cap is generally not a factor.
Yes, but it will reduce your high-3. Part-time employees receive basic pay at a reduced rate proportional to their tour of duty. A 50% schedule produces 50% of the GS rate — and that is what counts toward the high-3. Phased retirement under FERS (available since 2014) allows employees to work half-time while beginning to draw a partial annuity, but the annuity at full retirement is calculated on the combination of years at full and part-time rates. If maximizing your high-3 is the priority, stay full-time through retirement.