California Firefighter Pension Estimator

Pick your retirement formula from the four options, then enter your years of service, the age you expect to retire, and your final compensation as annual base pensionable pay. If you pick the PEPRA formula, the tool also asks whether your position participates in Social Security, because that answer decides which 2026 pensionable-pay cap applies.

You get back the percent of final compensation your formula produces, an estimated annual pension, and the monthly figure. Underneath that, the tool prints notes explaining anything that changed the math, such as retiring before your formula's full age, hitting the 90% maximum, or running into the PEPRA pay cap.

There are three optional premium fields for paramedic, education, and bilingual pay. Those feed a separate current gross pay line only. They are never added to the pension estimate, because many premiums are not pensionable and the rules vary by memorandum of understanding.

If your system is not CalPERS, choose the fourth option and enter the benefit factor from your own chart. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere. No email field, no account. Reload the page and it has forgotten you.

The benefit factors are the published CalPERS Local Safety charts. The pensionable-pay caps are the 2026 figures from CalPERS Circular Letter 200-001-26. Nothing here is a house estimate of what a factor should be.

Classic 3% at 50

A flat 3.000% factor at every age from 50 up, with the benefit capped at 90% of final compensation. Thirty years of service reaches that 90% ceiling, and service past it does not raise the percentage.

Classic 3% at 55

Starts at 2.400% at age 50 and steps up 0.030 for each completed quarter year until it reaches 3.000% at 55 and above. Also capped at 90% of final compensation. Leaving at 52 instead of 55 costs you factor for life, and the tool says so when it applies.

PEPRA 2.7% at 57

The formula most firefighters hired in recent years fall under. It starts at 2.000% at age 50 and steps up 0.025 for each completed quarter year until it reaches 2.700% at 57 and above. The published chart carries no 90% cap, so the tool does not apply one.

Your own benefit factor

County systems such as LACERA, OCERS, and SDCERA, and city systems such as LAFPP, run their own charts. Choose the fourth option, enter the factor your chart gives for your exact age, and the tool uses it without applying a CalPERS cap.

CalPERS charts publish factors at completed quarter-year ages, so the tool ignores partial quarters rather than interpolating between them. A firefighter retiring at 56 years and 9 months gets the 56.75 factor, not something in between.

This is an estimate for planning conversations, not a benefit statement. Know the edges before you make a decision on it.

• It is not your retirement system's number. Only CalPERS or your county or city system can produce a real estimate, and they hold your membership date, your service credit, and your reciprocity. Run their calculator before you set a retirement date. Confirm the tax side with a licensed CPA.
• It shows the unmodified allowance. No survivor option, no beneficiary continuance, no taxes, no health premiums deducted. Choosing an option that pays a spouse after you die reduces the monthly figure, sometimes considerably.
• Overtime is out. Pensionable compensation is base pay. The overtime that inflates your W-2 generally does nothing for the pension calculation, which is one reason the two numbers feel so far apart.
• Final compensation rules differ. PEPRA uses a 36-month average. Some Classic contracts allow a single highest year. The tool takes whatever figure you type, so the accuracy of the output depends on you entering the right kind of number.
• Premiums are shown separately for a reason. Whether paramedic, education, or bilingual pay counts toward your pension is set in your memorandum of understanding and by law, and it varies. The tool never assumes it counts.
• It does not model cost of living adjustments. The annual figure is a starting allowance, not what it will look like twenty years into retirement.
• It cannot tell you your tier. Membership date and reciprocity decide whether you are Classic or PEPRA, and candidates guess wrong about this often. Check your annual member statement instead of assuming.

Pension rules also change. Legislation, contract negotiations, and cap updates all move the numbers, and this page is a snapshot rather than a live feed.