About this calculator
The basic pension is SAM × rate × (your quarters ÷ required quarters). SAM is the average of your contributory salaries over your 25 best years (24 or 23 years if you benefited from child-related quarter bonuses), each year revalued and capped at that year’s Social Security ceiling — €48,060 for 2026, which is why the basic pension tops out at €24,030 a year (€2,002.50 a month). Only quarters validated with Assurance Retraite enter the pro-rata here: quarters validated with another scheme count towards your full-rate entitlement, but that scheme pays its own pension separately.
The rate is 50% at the full rate. Retire before 67 without the required quarters and the rate falls by 0.625% per missing quarter — counting the smaller of the quarters you lack against the required total and the quarters between your retirement age and 67, up to 20 quarters (so the floor is 37.5%). Retire at 67 and the rate is 50% whatever your quarter count. The supplementary pension is simpler: your lifetime AGIRC-ARRCO points multiplied by the point service value, €1.4386 a year per point.
Everything here is gross, before the social levies on pensions (CSG, CRDS, CASA) and before income tax, and it covers only the state pension for private-sector employees. Company pensions, personal retirement savings (PER) and pensions from other schemes are separate and not included.
How to use it
- Pick your birth cohort — it sets how many quarters you need for the full rate (170 for someone born in 1964, 172 for 1966 onwards).
- Enter your SAM (average of your 25 best years, as shown on your relevé de carrière), the quarters validated with Assurance Retraite, and your total quarters across all schemes — enter the same number twice if all your quarters are with Assurance Retraite.
- Enter your retirement age: 67 always gives the 50% rate; younger ages trigger the décote if quarters are missing.
- Enter your total AGIRC-ARRCO points from your points account, then read the basic, supplementary and total gross amounts.
The formula
Two caps keep the basic pension bounded: SAM never exceeds the Social Security ceiling, and the quarter ratio never exceeds 1 — extra quarters beyond the full rate earn a surcote (+1.25% per extra quarter) that this calculator does not model, so a career longer than the required total is shown at the 50% rate. The supplementary side is shown at the full rate: retiring before the full rate also reduces the AGIRC-ARRCO pension through a reduction coefficient (the more favourable of the age-based and quarters-based coefficients), which is not modelled here, so early-retirement totals are upper bounds on the supplementary side.
Worked example
Official worked examples (service-public.gouv.fr, born 1964, 170 quarters required, SAM €38,400): with all 170 quarters validated, €38,400 × 50% × (170 / 170) = €19,200 a year, €1,600 gross a month. With only 120 quarters validated with Assurance Retraite but 170 in total across all schemes (so still the full 50% rate), €38,400 × 50% × (120 / 170) = €13,552.94 a year, €1,129.41 a month. At 67 with 158 quarters, €38,400 × 50% × (158 / 170) = €17,844.71 a year, €1,487.06 a month. At 65 with 158 quarters the décote bites: 8 quarters short of 67 gives 50% − 0.625% × 8 = 45%, so €38,400 × 45% × (158 / 170) = €16,060.24 a year, €1,338.35 a month. On the supplementary side, the official one-year points example (a €75,500 salary in 2026) earns 378.67 points, worth 378.67 × €1.4386 = €544.75 a year, €45.40 a month.
Sources: service-public.gouv.fr (Direction de l’information légale et administrative, Premier ministre) — “Montant de la retraite du salarié du secteur privé” (verified 1 September 2026: formula, required-quarter table, worked examples, €48,060 ceiling, €2,002.50 maximum) and “Retraite complémentaire du salarié du secteur privé : Agirc-Arrco” (verified 1 January 2026: 2026 contribution and points rates, €20.1877 reference salary, €75,500 → 378.67 points example, €1.4386 service value). Verified October 2026. Last updated: October 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I find my SAM, my quarters and my points?
On your relevé de carrière (Info-Retraite / Mon compte retraite): it lists every year’s contributory salary and the quarters validated with Assurance Retraite, and your AGIRC-ARRCO points account shows your supplementary points total. SAM itself is the average of your 25 best revalued years — the statement does not print it directly, so use the average of your 25 highest capped, revalued annual salaries; if you have fewer than 25 years, the average is over the years you have.
Why is my average salary capped at €48,060?
Because only salary up to the Social Security ceiling (plafond annuel de la Sécurité sociale, PASS) counts for the basic pension. For 2026 the PASS is €48,060, so even a higher SAM is entered as €48,060 and the basic pension cannot exceed 50% × €48,060 = €24,030 a year (€2,002.50 a month). Salary above the ceiling still builds AGIRC-ARRCO points (slice 2, up to €384,480), which is why high earners’ supplementary pensions matter more.
How does the décote work, exactly?
It only applies if you retire before 67 without the required quarters. Take the smaller of (a) quarters missing to your cohort’s required total and (b) quarters between your retirement age and 67, capped at 20, and subtract 0.625% per quarter from 50%. Example from the official page: born 1964 (170 required), 158 quarters, retiring at 65 — 12 quarters short of the total but only 8 short of 67, so the décote is 8 quarters and the rate is 45%. At 67 there is no décote at any quarter count.
I have quarters with another scheme too — what do I enter?
Enter only the quarters validated with Assurance Retraite in the quarters field, exactly as the official 120-of-170 example does: the basic pension is pro-rated on those quarters, and the other scheme pays its own pension separately under its own rules. But remember those other quarters still count when deciding whether you have reached the full rate: if your all-schemes total reaches the required number, your rate is 50% even if the Assurance Retraite pro-rata is below 1.
Why might my real pension differ from this estimate?
Several official adjustments are deliberately left out rather than approximated: the minimum contributif (a floor that needs your contributed-quarter count and a cap on your total pensions of €1,410.89 a month), the surcote for quarters beyond the full rate (+1.25% per extra quarter), the AGIRC-ARRCO reduction coefficient for retiring before the full rate, child-related increases (10% on the supplementary pension for three or more children, among others), and the social levies (CSG, CRDS, CASA) and income tax deducted from the gross amounts shown here. Estimates only — not official advice: the binding figure comes from Assurance Retraite and AGIRC-ARRCO.
Does this cover civil servants, the self-employed or farmers?
No — this is the private-sector employee system (régime général + AGIRC-ARRCO) only. Civil servants, self-employed workers, farmers and most special schemes have different formulas, different averaging periods and different supplementary schemes. If your career spans several schemes, use this calculator for the régime général / AGIRC-ARRCO part only.
What formula does this France Pension calculator use?
Basic annual = SAM × rate × (quarters validated ÷ quarters required), SAM capped at €48,060 (2026 ceiling); rate = 50% − 0.625% × missing quarters (smaller of quarters missing to the required total and quarters missing to age 67, max 20), or 50% at age 67; Supplementary annual = AGIRC-ARRCO points × €1.4386; Total = basic + supplementary Two caps keep the basic pension bounded: SAM never exceeds the Social Security ceiling, and the quarter ratio never exceeds 1 — extra quarters beyond the full rate earn a surcote (+1.25% per extra quarter) that this calculator does not model, so a career longer than the required total is shown at the 50% rate. The supplementary side is shown at the full rate: retiring before the full rate also reduces the AGIRC-ARRCO pension through a reduction coefficient (the more favourable of the age-based and quarters-based coefficients), which is not modelled here, so early-retirement totals are upper bounds on the supplementary side. The worked example on this page applies the formula step by step with real numbers, so you can verify the result by hand.