Military Retirement Pay Chart 2026

High-3 applies to members who entered between September 8, 1980 and December 31, 2017 and did not opt into BRS. Download the High-3 chart as CSV.

BRS applies to members who entered on or after January 1, 2018, or opted in during 2018 with under 12 years of service, so a member retiring December 1, 2026 has at most about 20 years; only someone who entered in 2006 and opted in reaches it. That is why this chart has a single column. Beyond 20 years BRS pays 2.0% a year (60% of the High-36 at 30 years), 80% of the High-3 amount at the same service length, but future retirement years will use future pay tables. BRS also adds Thrift Savings Plan matching. Download the BRS chart as CSV.

Retirement effective December 1, 2026 falls in the October to December quarter, so under 10 U.S.C. 1401a(d) the first COLA is 0.0% (the third-quarter CPI-W measured from the quarter before the quarter of retirement, never more than the full 3.6%). The COLA the following December applies in full, expected at 3.6% for High-3 and BRS.

DFAS has not posted its December 1, 2026 retired pay COLA notice. The expected rate is 3.6% for High-3 and BRS, computed from the third-quarter CPI-W under 10 U.S.C. 1401a, so the after-COLA figures below are estimates until DFAS posts the notice.

More on the rules and the first-year trap on the military retirement COLA 2027 page.

Find your pay grade in the left column and your whole years of service across the top; the cell is the monthly retired pay for that combination. Between columns, round years of service down to the column you have reached. Every figure is arithmetic on the DFAS basic pay table, not a typical career: cells such as E-4 at 30 years, E-5 or E-6 at 35 or 40 years, O-1 to O-3 at 30 years or more, and O-6 at 20 years show a number because the table lists one, even though few members hold that grade at that length of service. Rank titles beside the grades are Army titles, for reference; the other services use different titles for the same pay grades.

Use the High-3 chart if you entered before 2018 and did not opt into BRS; use the BRS chart otherwise. Your actual retired pay is set by DFAS from your own records and will differ with your promotion dates, the grade you held in the last 36 months, and the retirement date.

High-3: monthly retired pay = 2.5% x years of service x High-36. BRS: monthly retired pay = 2.0% x years of service x High-36. 20 years pays 50% or 40% of the High-36, and 30 years pays 75% or 60%. Past 30 years the multiplier keeps growing by 2.5% (BRS 2%) a year, as the DoD Financial Management Regulation applies it (10 U.S.C. 1409). The result is rounded down to the dollar (10 U.S.C. 1412).

The High-36 is the average of the 36 highest months of basic pay (10 U.S.C. 1407). Here it is the 36 months before December 1, 2026, each priced on the DFAS table in effect that month at the years of service the member had that month.

Why retired pay is below current basic pay

The High-36 is an average over three years, and the earlier months were paid on older, lower tables at fewer years of service. So the High-36 sits below the last month's basic pay, and 50% of it at 20 years is less than half of your final basic pay. For the basic pay itself see the 2026 military pay chart.

Medical retirement

Medical (disability) retired pay uses the higher of the disability rating (75% at most) or the years-of-service multiplier, and a member on the temporary disability retired list gets at least 50% of the base. It is not on this chart; use the military retirement pay calculator.