When Can I Retire from the Federal Government? FERS and CSRS Rules

You can retire from the federal government as early as your minimum retirement age (somewhere between 55 and 57, depending on when you were born) if you have 30 years of creditable service. If you have less service, the earliest immediate retirement dates move later: age 60 with 20 years, or age 62 with just 5 years. Those thresholds apply under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), which covers everyone hired into a covered position since January 1, 1987. The older Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), which generally covers employees who entered federal service before 1984, uses a fixed age of 55 (rather than a sliding MRA) with the same service combinations.¹

The Three Standard Retirement Combinations Under FERS

An immediate retirement means your annuity payments start within 30 days of your last day of work. Three combinations of age and service qualify:²

Your MRA with at least 30 years of creditable service.
Age 60 with at least 20 years of creditable service.
Age 62 with at least 5 years of creditable service.

Creditable service is time in a covered federal position where retirement deductions were withheld, along with certain military service for which you have made a deposit to OPM and other qualifying periods documented in your personnel folder. Check your service computation date well before you start counting down. Errors in personnel records are common enough that discovering a gap at the last minute can push your eligibility back months or even years.

Finding Your Minimum Retirement Age

The MRA is not the same for everyone under FERS. It slides based on birth year, and getting it wrong by a few months means your application will be rejected.³

Born before 1948: 55
Born in 1948: 55 and 2 months
Born in 1949: 55 and 4 months
Born in 1950: 55 and 6 months
Born in 1951: 55 and 8 months
Born in 1952: 55 and 10 months
Born 1953 through 1964: 56
Born in 1965: 56 and 2 months
Born in 1966: 56 and 4 months
Born in 1967: 56 and 6 months
Born in 1968: 56 and 8 months
Born in 1969: 56 and 10 months
Born 1970 or later: 57

Anyone born from the mid-1960s onward has an MRA between 56 and 57. Colleagues hired the same year can end up with slightly different earliest retirement dates because of that spread.

CSRS Retirement Ages

CSRS applies mainly to employees who entered federal service before 1984. If that is not you, this section is a boundary, not an option. If it is you, the rules are simpler because there is no sliding MRA:⁴

Age 55 with 30 years of service.
Age 60 with 20 years of service.
Age 62 with 5 years of service.

CSRS has no MRA+10 equivalent. If you separate without meeting one of those three combinations, you can take a deferred annuity starting at 62 (with at least 5 years of service) or a refund of your contributions.

Retiring at Your MRA With Fewer Than 30 Years

You do not need 30 years to retire at your MRA under FERS. The MRA+10 provision lets you leave with an immediate annuity once you reach your MRA and have at least 10 years of creditable service.⁵ The catch is significant. Your annuity is permanently reduced by 5% for each year you are under age 62 when payments begin, which works out to 5/12 of 1% per month.

In concrete terms: retire at 57 under MRA+10 and your annuity takes a permanent 25% cut. Retire at 60 and it drops 10%. The reduction follows you for life. Turning 62 does not remove it.

There is a way around the penalty. You can separate at your MRA but postpone the start of payments until 60 (with 20 or more years of service) or 62. That is a distinct option, covered further down.

Earlier Retirement for Law Enforcement, Firefighters, and Others

Federal law enforcement officers, firefighters, nuclear materials couriers, Capitol Police, Supreme Court Police, air traffic controllers, and customs and border protection officers qualify for earlier retirement. Under FERS, these employees can retire at age 50 with 20 years of covered service, or at any age with 25 years of covered service.²

The tradeoff is mandatory retirement. Law enforcement officers with 20 years of covered service face mandatory separation at age 57, though an agency head can grant extensions up to 60 if the officer has not yet reached 20 years of covered service.⁶ Firefighters with 20 years of covered service face mandatory retirement at 55. Air traffic controllers typically must separate at 56. In these positions, the window is both earlier and narrower than for general schedule employees.

When an Agency Offers Early Retirement

Two agency-driven programs can open the door to an earlier exit even if you have not reached your MRA or met the standard service requirements. Neither is a standing option. Both arise during specific events like a reduction in force, a major reorganization, or a transfer of function.

Voluntary Early Retirement Authority

VERA lets agencies offer early retirement during restructuring. Eligibility requires you to be at least 50 with 20 years of creditable service, or any age with 25 years of service.⁷ OPM must approve the authority before an agency can extend the offer, and the window is time-limited. A VERA retirement under FERS carries no age-based annuity reduction, which makes it more valuable than an MRA+10 retirement for someone who qualifies for both.

One detail catches people off guard. To continue Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) into retirement, you generally need five consecutive years of enrollment immediately before retiring. OPM can waive this in exceptional circumstances, but waivers are rare for voluntary retirements because you could keep working until the requirement is met.⁸

Discontinued Service Retirement

DSR applies when you are involuntarily separated through no fault of your own. The eligibility combinations are the same: age 50 with 20 years, or any age with 25 years. You must have served in a covered position for at least one year within the two years immediately before separation, and you cannot have turned down a reasonable job offer within two grade levels of your current position.⁹ FERS retirees who take DSR do not face an annuity reduction for being under 55, unlike the CSRS treatment where 2% per year applies for each year under 55.

Disability Retirement

If a medical condition prevents you from doing your job, disability retirement provides a separate exit that has nothing to do with age. The service floor is much lower than for voluntary retirement: FERS requires just 18 months of creditable civilian service,¹⁰ and CSRS requires five years.¹¹

The condition must be expected to last at least a year and must prevent useful and efficient service in your current role. Your agency has to certify that it cannot accommodate the condition and has considered reassignment to a vacant position at the same grade level in the same commuting area. If no such position exists or the accommodation is impractical, the application moves forward.

FERS disability applicants must also file for Social Security Disability Insurance. If you withdraw the SSDI application, OPM will dismiss your FERS disability retirement application too.¹² Treat the two applications as inseparable.

Leaving Before You’re Eligible: Deferred vs. Postponed

Leaving federal service before you meet an immediate retirement threshold does not always mean losing your annuity. Two different options exist, and they are often confused.

Deferred Retirement

If you separate with at least five years of creditable civilian service but before meeting any immediate retirement combination, you qualify for a deferred annuity. Payments begin on the first day of the month after you turn 62.¹³ The annuity is calculated using the standard FERS formula, based on your service and high-3 salary at the time you left.

The major downside: deferred retirees cannot continue FEHB coverage or Federal Employees Group Life Insurance.¹³ You are on your own for health insurance from the day you leave until Medicare eligibility. For someone who leaves at 45, that is potentially 20 years without federal health coverage. This is often the single biggest cost of leaving early, and the one people most consistently underestimate.

Postponed Retirement

Postponed retirement is a separate option for MRA+10 employees who want to reduce or eliminate the 5%-per-year age penalty. You separate at or after your MRA but instruct OPM to hold the annuity until a later date, typically age 60 with 20 or more years of service, or age 62 with fewer than 20 years.³

The critical advantage over a deferred retirement is health coverage. When your annuity starts, you can re-enroll in FEHB and Federal Employees Group Life Insurance, provided you were enrolled in FEHB for the five years immediately before you separated.¹³ That health insurance bridge is often what decides whether to take MRA+10 with the permanent penalty or postpone payments for a few years to come out ahead.

Picking the Actual Retirement Date

Under both FERS and CSRS, your official retirement date is the first day of the month after your last day of service, and your first annuity payment arrives on the first of the following month. Because of that mechanic, making your last day of work the final day of a month is standard advice. If you separate mid-month, you lose pay for the remaining days without gaining an earlier annuity start.

Federal employees receive a lump-sum payment for unused annual leave at separation, so the cost of a poorly chosen date is limited on that side. Sick leave is different. It converts to annuity credit only if it is on the books when you retire, and it disappears if you separate and are later rehired under a different appointment. Protecting that balance matters more than most people realize when they pick their date.

Your Thrift Savings Plan account stays with you after separation. You can withdraw as a single lump sum, take partial withdrawals of at least $1,000, set up fixed installment payments, or purchase a life annuity.¹⁴ Withdrawals before age 59½ generally trigger a 10% early distribution tax penalty on top of regular income taxes, though there are exceptions for installment payments based on life expectancy. If you are retiring before 59½, coordinate the TSP withdrawal strategy with your annuity start date to avoid unnecessary penalties.

1
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. A Guide to Choosing Between FERS and CSRS
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 8412 – Immediate Retirement
3
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. FERS Information – Eligibility
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 8336 – Immediate Retirement
5
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. What Is a Minimum Retirement Age (MRA) Plus 10 Annuity Under FERS
6
National Finance Center. Appendix C – Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS)
7
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Voluntary Early Retirement Authority
8
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Can the Employees Five-Year Enrollment Requirements for Continuing Health Insurance Coverage Be Waived
9
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. CSRS and FERS Handbook – Chapter 44 Discontinued Service Retirement
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 8451 – Disability Retirement
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 8337 – Disability Retirement
12
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. FERS Information – Types of Retirement
13
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Applying for Deferred or Postponed Retirement Under FERS
14
Thrift Savings Plan. Withdrawals in Retirement