What Is Your High-3, and What Counts as Basic Pay?
Your high-3 is one of the three numbers that determine your FERS pension, and it's the one people most often estimate wrong. Get it right and your annuity estimate is solid; guess at it and every projection you make is off. Here's exactly what it is and what counts.
The definition
Your high-3 is the average of your highest 36 consecutive months of basic pay. Three things to unpack in that sentence:
- Highest — for almost everyone, that's the final three years of work, because federal pay generally rises over a career. But if you took a downgrade or moved to a lower-paying position late, your high-3 could come from an earlier window.
- 36 consecutive months — it must be an unbroken three-year stretch, not your three best scattered years.
- Basic pay — this is the part with the most surprises (below).
What counts as basic pay — and what doesn't
| Counts toward high-3 | Does NOT count |
|---|---|
| Your base General Schedule (or equivalent) pay | Overtime pay |
| Locality pay | Bonuses and awards |
| Law enforcement availability pay (LEAP), where applicable | Cash incentives / recruitment & retention bonuses |
| Certain premium pay that is treated as basic pay | Travel, per diem, allowances |
| Night differential for wage-grade (FWS) employees | Most premiums and differentials (GS) |
The big one people get wrong: overtime never counts, no matter how much you worked. If your take-home was inflated by overtime in your final years, your high-3 will be lower than your gross pay suggests.
Why the timing of your exit matters
Because the high-3 is an average of your highest 36 months, every additional pay period you work near the top of your career replaces a slightly lower-paid month at the back of the window with a higher-paid one at the front. After a January pay raise, each extra pay period nudges your high-3 up a little — modest per check, but it's baked into your annuity for life. This is the quiet case for "a few more months," covered in the best-date guide.
How to find your real number
Don't guess. Your agency can provide your high-3 on a retirement estimate, and your official records reflect it. As a quick approximation, average your basic-pay-only salary over your last three years — excluding overtime and bonuses. Then plug it into the FERS calculator to see your estimated pension.
Have your high-3? See your pension.
Enter your high-3, age, and service into the free calculator for an instant FERS annuity estimate — with the formula shown.
Try the free FERS calculator