The New York State and Local Employees’ Retirement System, or ERS, is one of the largest public pension plans in the country. It covers state workers, county, city, town and village employees, and school district staff who are not teachers, such as bus drivers, custodians, aides and office workers. Teachers belong to the separate NYSTRS, and New York City runs its own systems. Police and firefighters outside New York City are in the companion Police and Fire Retirement System, which has different rules.
Your tier is set by the date you joined, and it decides your formula, your full-benefit age and how much early retirement costs. This page covers the regular Article 15 plan that most ERS members are in.
The formula
ERS multiplies a percentage for each year of service by your final average earnings. The percentage depends on how long you worked.
Tiers 3, 4 and 5 (joined July 1976 to March 2012):
- Fewer than 20 years: 1.66% for each year.
- 20 to 30 years: 2% for each year.
- More than 30 years: 60% plus 1.5% for each year beyond 30.
Tier 6 (joined April 1, 2012 or later):
- Fewer than 20 years: 1.66% for each year.
- Exactly 20 years: 1.75% for each year, which is 35%.
- More than 20 years: 35% plus 2% for each year beyond 20.
| Years of service | Tiers 3–5 | Tier 6 |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | 16.6% | 16.6% |
| 15 | 24.9% | 24.9% |
| 20 | 40.0% | 35.0% |
| 25 | 50.0% | 45.0% |
| 30 | 60.0% | 55.0% |
| 35 | 67.5% | 65.0% |
Here is an example. Maria, a Tier 6 county clerk, retires at 63 with 30 years and final average earnings of $70,000. Her pension is 55% of $70,000, which is $38,500 a year, or about $3,208 a month before taxes, under the single life option.
When you can retire, and what early retirement costs
Every regular ERS member can retire from 55 once vested. What changes by tier is how much the pension is cut for leaving early. The cut is permanent. It does not go away when you reach the full-benefit age.
| Age at retirement | Tier 3–4 (under 30 yrs) | Tier 5 | Tier 6 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 55 | 27% less | 38.33% less | 52% less |
| 57 | 21% less | 28.33% less | 39% less |
| 59 | 15% less | 18.33% less | 26% less |
| 60 | 12% less | 13.33% less | 19.5% less |
| 61 | 6% less | 6.67% less | 13% less |
| 62 | Full | Full | 6.5% less |
| 63 | Full | Full | Full |
Reductions are prorated by month, so retiring at 58½ in Tier 6 costs 29.25%. The big difference is that Tier 3 and 4 members with 30 years of service have no reduction at all from 55, while Tier 5 and Tier 6 members are reduced before their full-benefit age even with 30 years or more.
That makes Tier 6 timing important. If Maria had left at 60 instead, she would have had 27 years, worth 49%, and that would have been cut by 19.5%. Her pension would be about $27,600 a year for life instead of $38,500. Those last three years were worth nearly $11,000 a year. Our retirement date finder shows when you first reach a full benefit.
Final average earnings
ERS uses the average of your three highest consecutive years of earnings. To stop spiking, pay in any one year counts only up to 10% more than the average of the two years before it. Unused sick leave, termination pay and lump-sum vacation payouts are left out. Tier 5 and 6 members also have limits on how much overtime counts, and Tier 6 earnings above the Governor’s salary do not count.
Contributions and vesting
All tiers now vest after five years of service credit. Tier 3 and 4 members contribute 3% of pay until they reach 10 years of membership or service. Tier 5 members pay 3% for their whole career. Tier 6 members pay 3% to 6% depending on salary, also for their whole career.
At retirement, eligible members can turn unused, unpaid sick leave into extra service credit: up to 165 days for most Tier 3 to 5 members, and generally up to 100 days in Tier 6.
Cost-of-living increases
NYSLRS adds a COLA each September once you are 62 and have been retired at least five years. It is half of inflation, between 1% and 3%, applied to the first $18,000 of your pension. For September 2026 it was 1.7%, worth up to $25.50 a month. Details are on the NYSLRS COLA page, and the payment dates page lists every deposit day.
Social Security
ERS members pay into Social Security, so most retire with both checks. Because Tier 6 reaches a full pension at 63 and Social Security’s full retirement age is 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later, a common plan is to retire from public service at 63 and wait to claim Social Security, which grows 8% a year until 70. The pension and Social Security calculator shows the combined income at each age.
How well funded is NYSLRS?
At the end of fiscal 2025, NYSLRS had assets to cover 94% of the benefits members have earned so far. NYSLRS is one of the better-funded public plans in the country. It has stayed close to that level since 2016.
In fiscal 2025, employers paid the full contribution the plan's actuaries asked for. A low funded ratio does not cut a pension you have already earned. Public pension benefits are protected by state law, and in many states by the state constitution. What a gap usually changes is the future: higher contributions from workers and employers, and less generous tiers for new hires.
