This page opens the calculator on CSRS with a $3,000 gross monthly annuity that has been paid since 2025 or earlier: 3.6% brings it to $3,108.00, or $108 more a month. Change the amount to your own gross annuity, the figure before health and life insurance premiums and tax.
Why CSRS gets more than FERS
CSRS retirees keep the whole inflation measure: whatever the CPI-W says, the annuity rises by it, and this year that means 3.6%, exactly what Social Security beneficiaries get. FERS retirees get 2.6% because their law trims a point off any rise above 3%, and most of them wait until 62 for any increase. Neither limit exists in CSRS: a 58-year-old CSRS retiree gets the same 3.6% as an 80-year-old.
Retired under CSRS during 2026?
Annuities that started in 2026 get a share of the 3.6% matching the months already paid when the increase takes effect, so a June start gets half of it. The calculator asks for the start month; the table below lists OPM’s percentage for each one. Widows and widowers of a retiree who died soon after retiring count the months from the retiree’s own start date, not from the death.
What to check on your statement
OPM’s notice shows the new gross annuity and the deductions under it. Your net payment changes by the raise minus any rise in health or life insurance premiums. If you have a FERS annuity with a CSRS component, only that component follows this rule.
CSRS first-year COLA by start month
| Annuity began | COLA | $2,500 becomes |
|---|---|---|
| December 2025 or earlier | 3.6% | $2,590.00 |
| January 2026 | 3.3% | $2,582.00 |
| February 2026 | 3.0% | $2,575.00 |
| March 2026 | 2.7% | $2,567.00 |
| April 2026 | 2.4% | $2,560.00 |
| May 2026 | 2.1% | $2,552.00 |
| June 2026 | 1.8% | $2,545.00 |
| July 2026 | 1.5% | $2,537.00 |
| August 2026 | 1.2% | $2,530.00 |
| September 2026 | 0.9% | $2,522.00 |
| October 2026 | 0.6% | $2,515.00 |
| November 2026 | 0.3% | $2,507.00 |
Percentages from OPM's table for the December 1, 2026 COLA; amounts rounded down to the dollar, at least $1.00 more. Checked October 22, 2026. Sources: OPM, Annuity Payments: Cost-of-Living Adjustments and CSRS and FERS Handbook, chapter 2.