403B Payout Calculator
A 403(b) balance is a pile of money, not a paycheck. The question teachers, nurses, and nonprofit staff actually retire on is different: how much income a year will this balance pay me, and will it still be paying in year twenty-five? Answering that takes two steps, because the balance keeps growing until you retire and keeps earning while you draw it down.
The 403(b) Payout Calculator below runs both phases in one flow. First it grows your current balance with your annual contributions until retirement. Then it turns that retirement balance into a payout plan: either the highest sustainable income stretched over the years you choose, with or without inflation raises, or a survival test for a fixed amount you have in mind.
Step 1: Growing your balance
Step 2: Planning the payout
| Year | Payout | Balance |
|---|
Quick Answer
Key takeaways
- A payout plan is two calculations: grow the balance to retirement, then draw it down. Skipping phase one is the most common competitor error.
- Stretch mode solves for the highest payout that lasts exactly your chosen years. Fixed mode tests your number and names the year it fails.
- Inflation protection costs you at the start: the first-year payout is lower so later payouts can rise.
- Every dollar of a pre-tax 403(b) payout is taxed as ordinary income. The optional tax field shows the after-tax monthly figure.
How the two phases fit together
Phase one is ordinary compound growth with contributions added at the end of each year. Phase two keeps the account invested while it pays you, so the payout is an annuity calculation, not a simple division of the balance by the number of years.
Grow it. Your current balance compounds for the years left until retirement, and each annual contribution compounds for the years it is invested. On the defaults that turns $200,000 of contributions and starting money into $504,641.50.
Stretch it or test it. Stretch mode divides the retirement balance into the largest sustainable payout over your horizon. Fixed mode runs your chosen amount year by year and reports either a leftover balance or the exact year of depletion, with a partial final payment.
Read the year-by-year table. The result includes the full schedule, so you can watch the balance fall and check any single year instead of trusting one headline number.
Worked example, checked against this exact tool
Leave every default in place and click Calculate. The growth phase is worth verifying by hand, because it is the step a rival gets badly wrong (see below): $100,000 growing at 6% for 20 years becomes $320,713.55, and $5,000 a year contributed over the same span becomes $183,927.96, for a retirement balance of $504,641.50.
| Figure (defaults, inflation raises on) | Value |
|---|---|
| Balance at retirement | $504,641.50 |
| Annual payout, year 1 | $29,366.68 |
| Monthly income, year 1 | $2,447.22 |
| Total withdrawn over 25 years | $940,623.69 |
| Balance at end | $0.00 |
Untick the inflation box and the same balance pays a level $35,805.55 a year, which is $2,983.80 a month. The level payout starts $6,438.87 a year higher, but it never rises, so the inflation-adjusted plan overtakes it in later years while the level plan’s spending power quietly shrinks. Total withdrawn on the level plan is lower in nominal terms, which is the honest price of keeping up with inflation.
Already retired? Set years until retirement and contributions to zero and the calculator works from the balance you have. A $450,000 balance at a 5% retirement return, stretched level over 25 years, pays $31,928.61 a year, or $2,660.72 a month. Planning the minimum the IRS will force you to take is a different job, handled by a required minimum distribution calculator for federal plans and the same IRS tables for a 403(b).
The fixed-amount survival test
Most people do not think in annuity formulas. They think: I want $40,000 a year, will it last? Fixed mode answers exactly that, with the depletion year named instead of hidden.
Run it on a $450,000 balance at a 5% retirement return with inflation raises off: $40,000 a year survives 16 full years, then pays a partial $37,793.59 in year 17 and the account is empty, $677,793.59 withdrawn in total. The sustainable maximum for that balance over 25 years is the $31,928.61 from the stretch example, so the test tells you both that $40,000 fails and by how much to cut. If the shortfall surprises you, the levers are the ones in the growth phase: contribute more, retire later, or check what your employer match adds with a employer matching calculator built for a sister plan.
One more warning belongs here: this planner models retirement-age payouts. Taking money out before 59 and a half is a different calculation with a 10% additional tax and a list of exceptions, which is what the 403(b) withdrawal page on this site handles. How the balance got built also matters for comparisons across your whole career, and an annual time value of money calculator puts contributions made decades apart on one footing.
What competing calculators miss
Five dedicated rivals target this phrase, and the category’s math quality is poor. Accuracy alone separates this page.
A $199,000 worked-example error. SavvyCalculator’s own example claims $100,000 plus $5,000 a year for 20 years at 6% grows to $305,695. The correct figure is $504,641.50, as the worked example above shows line by line. Their monthly payout is consistent only with the wrong balance.
No growth phase at all. BraveCalculator starts from a retirement balance and pays it out with a correct annuity formula, but it cannot tell you what your balance will be. CalculatorsHub is thinner still: it multiplies the balance by a withdrawal percentage and ignores growth during the payout entirely, so its totals can fall below the starting balance with no explanation.
The wrong direction. AreaCalculators solves for the present value of a payment stream, which answers what a payout is worth today, not what income a balance will pay. The Annuity Expert models real guaranteed products, but its figures are sales quotes for annuities, not a plan you control.
No inflation mode, no tax line, no schedule. None of the five offers an inflation-indexed payout using the growing-annuity formula, an after-tax income row, or a year-by-year balance table. This calculator has all three, plus the fixed-amount survival test none of them attempts.
Frequently asked questions
As much as the balance can sustain over your horizon, which is what Stretch mode solves. On the default plan, a $504,641.50 retirement balance at a 5% return pays $35,805.55 a year level for 25 years, or $29,366.68 in year one if the payout rises 2% a year with inflation. Shorter horizons pay more per year; longer horizons pay less but last.
Your current balance compounds at the saving return for every year until retirement, and each annual contribution, added at year end, compounds for the years it is invested. The default plan is checkable by hand: $100,000 at 6% for 20 years is $320,713.55, and $5,000 a year over the same span is $183,927.96, totaling $504,641.50.
Stretch starts from the years and solves for the payout: the most the balance can pay before reaching $0 in the final year. Fixed starts from your payout and tests it: the tool runs your amount year by year and either reports money left over or names the depletion year with a partial final payment. Use stretch to set a budget, fixed to check one.
Yes, if the inflation box is ticked. The payout then rises each year at your inflation rate using the growing-annuity formula, so the first-year payout starts lower than a level payout on the same balance: $29,366.68 against $35,805.55 on the default plan. Untick the box for a level payout that stays the same in dollars while its buying power falls.
Withdrawals from a traditional pre-tax 403(b) are taxed as ordinary income in the year you take them. Enter your expected effective rate in the optional tax field and the result adds an after-tax monthly income line. Roth 403(b) money comes out tax-free instead when the distribution is qualified, which this planner does not model separately.
Required minimum distributions begin at age 73, or 75 if you were born in 1960 or later, and they set a legal floor under your withdrawals each year. A stretch plan that pays less than the RMD is not allowed to stay that low, so if your horizon is long and your balance large, check the RMD for your age alongside the plan.
Withdrawals before age 59 and a half generally owe income tax plus a 10% additional tax, with exceptions that include separating from service in or after the year you turn 55 (the Rule of 55), disability, and substantially equal periodic payments. This planner models retirement payouts; a lump sum taken early needs the tax and penalty waterfall, not an annuity calculation.
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References
- Internal Revenue Service, Publication 571, “Tax-Sheltered Annuity Plans (403(b) Plans)” – the IRS guide to 403(b) contributions, limits, and distributions. IRS Publication 571: 403(b) Plans. Accessed October 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service, Publication 575, “Pension and Annuity Income” – how periodic pension and annuity payments, including 403(b) payouts, are taxed. IRS Publication 575: Pension and Annuity Income. Accessed October 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service, “403(b) Plan Fix-It Guide” – the IRS reference hub for 403(b) plan rules, contributions, and distributions for participants and employers. IRS: 403(b) Plan Fix-It Guide. Accessed October 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service, “COLA Increases for Dollar Limitations on Benefits and Contributions” – the IRS page publishing the annual elective deferral and catch-up limits, including the 2026 figures used on this page. IRS: Retirement Plan Dollar Limits. Accessed October 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service, “Retirement Topics: Required Minimum Distributions” – when RMDs begin (age 73, or 75 if born in 1960 or later) and how they apply. IRS: Required Minimum Distributions. Accessed October 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service, “Retirement Plans FAQs regarding 403(b) Tax-Sheltered Annuity Plans” – official answers on 403(b) eligibility, contributions, and payouts. IRS: 403(b) FAQs. Accessed October 2026.