Methodology

Every number on the calculator comes from a published rule or a published rate. This page lists them all, with the assumptions we add on top, so you can check the arithmetic yourself.

Sources and effective date

FEGLI premium rates are entered line by line from OPM Benefits Administration Letter 21-204, Attachment 1 (dated September 9, 2021), the rate table that took effect with the first pay period beginning on or after October 1, 2021. OPM's own FEGLI calculator uses the same figures; on October 13, 2026 we ran 15 employee scenarios and 3 retirement scenarios through it and matched every line to the cent. The coverage rules (how the Basic Insurance Amount is built, the Extra Benefit, the retirement reductions) follow the OPM FEGLI Program Booklet (FE 76-21) and the FEGLI Handbook. If OPM publishes a new rate letter, this page will show the new effective date; until then, the date above is the one in force.

Source documents: BAL 21-204 Attachment 1 (PDF, opm.gov) · OPM FEGLI premium overview · OPM's FEGLI calculator.

How coverage amounts are built

1. Basic Insurance Amount (BIA) = your annual rate of basic pay rounded up to the next $1,000, plus $2,000, with a floor of $10,000. A salary of $61,500 becomes $62,000 + $2,000 = $64,000.
2. Extra Benefit: at age 35 or younger, Basic is doubled at no extra cost. From your 36th birthday the extra falls by 10 percentage points a year (90% at 36, 80% at 37 … 10% at 44) and is gone at 45. The Extra Benefit is paid out but never charged for.
3. Option A is a flat $10,000.
4. Option B = one to five multiples of your pay rounded up to the next $1,000 (not of the BIA, so the $2,000 is not multiplied).
5. Option C = per multiple, $5,000 on your spouse and $2,500 on each eligible child, up to five multiples.
6. "Coverage on your life" on the results panel is Basic + Extra Benefit + Option A + Option B. Option C pays you on a family member's death, so it is listed separately.

How premiums are calculated

1. Basic: BIA ÷ 1,000 × the Basic rate. Employees pay the employee share only ($0.16 biweekly per $1,000); the government pays one-third of the total and is not shown. The U.S. Postal Service pays both the employee and the government share for its employees, so a postal employee's Basic line is $0.00.
2. Option A: the flat age-band rate for $10,000 of coverage.
3. Option B: Option B coverage ÷ 1,000 × the age-band rate per $1,000.
4. Option C: number of multiples × the age-band rate per multiple.
5. Each line is computed in exact integer arithmetic and rounded to the nearest cent, halves rounding up, exactly as OPM's calculator rounds. The total is the sum of the rounded lines, which is how payroll withholds it.
6. "Per year" is the per-period amount × 26 biweekly pay periods for employees, or × 12 for annuitants. "Per month" is the yearly figure ÷ 12, rounded to the cent.
7. Age bands: the rate for your current age applies for the whole year in which you hold that age. OPM applies a new band from the first pay period after your birthday (annuitants: the month after), a timing detail this calculator does not model.

The rate tables in use

Rates for compensationers paid every four weeks are twice the biweekly rate and are not modelled here.

How the cost curve is built

1. The projection runs one step per year of age, from your current age to 80 (or to your current age if you are already older), and adds up the yearly premiums as it goes. Everything is "whole year": the premium for the age you hold on January 1 is charged for that entire year.
2. Your salary is held constant. Real pay rises with step increases, promotions and pay adjustments, which would raise both Basic and Option B; the curve is therefore a floor, not a forecast.
3. From the planned retirement age (default 62) the model switches from employee biweekly rates to annuitant monthly rates, and Basic switches to the annuitant Basic rate that corresponds to your election.
4. At 65 (or at retirement, if later) the retirement elections take effect in the same way OPM's calculator applies them: with Basic 75% Reduction the Basic premium stops; with 50% or No Reduction the post-65 rate ($0.75 or $2.25 per $1,000 a month) continues for life. Option A becomes free. Option B and Option C multiples at Full Reduction become free; multiples at No Reduction keep paying the age-band rate for life.
5. Premiums are always based on the pre-retirement coverage amount. Coverage reductions (Basic to 25% or 50%, Option A to 25%, Full Reduction multiples to zero over 50 months) change the amount insured, not the premium.
6. Reductions are applied in whole-year steps starting the year after the reduction start age: for example Basic at 75% Reduction is shown at 76% of the original amount one year after 65 (24 months × 2% would be 48%, but the first year is modelled at 12 months), reaching the 25% floor three years later. OPM counts from the second month after the 65th birthday.
7. The calculator applies one election to all of your Option B multiples and one to all of your Option C multiples. OPM allows a mix (for example two multiples at No Reduction and one at Full Reduction); mixed elections are not modelled.

The private term life estimate

1. The comparison line uses published composite average monthly premiums for level term life insurance for a non-smoker in the Preferred health class, as compiled by Policygenius from quotes across a panel of insurers (rate illustrations valid as of October 1, 2024, and January 1, 2024 for the age 60 and 70 rows of the 20-year tables). Preferred is a middle class: Preferred Plus applicants pay less, Standard applicants pay roughly 1.5 times more, and smokers several times more.
2. The policy is sized to your FEGLI "coverage on your life" at your current age and priced at your current age as the issue age. Between the published ages (20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 and 70 for 20-year terms) the premium is interpolated in a straight line; between the published coverage tiers ($250,000, $500,000, $1,000,000) it is interpolated in a straight line, and outside them it is scaled in proportion.
3. A level term premium is the same every year, so the cumulative line is a straight line that stops when the term ends (issue age + term length). The line is never extended past that point, because the coverage does not exist past that point; FEGLI, by contrast, continues as long as you keep paying.
4. No estimate is shown when the published tables have no row that covers your issue age for the chosen term (for example a 30-year term past age 50), or when your coverage amount is zero.
5. These figures are a market estimate, not a personalized quote. They are there to put the FEGLI curve in context; whether private coverage is available to you, and at what price, is decided by an insurer's underwriting.

Source: Policygenius term life insurance rates and Policygenius 20-year term life insurance, retrieved October 13, 2026.

What is not modelled

• Pay growth, the five-year coverage requirement for carrying FEGLI into retirement, the one-month timing of band changes, the second-month start of reductions, and mixed reduction elections.
• Compensationers paid every four weeks, and employees who keep working past 65 while being paid monthly.
• Accidental Death and Dismemberment coverage (included in Basic and Option A at no charge) and living benefits.
• Taxes, interest or the time value of money: the curve adds up nominal premiums.

Verification

Before publication the calculator was checked against OPM's calculator on 18 scenarios covering every age band, Postal and non-Postal, biweekly and monthly withholding, one to five multiples, the $10,000 floor, and all three Basic reductions with both Option B and Option C elections. Every line agreed within one cent, including the half-cent rounding cases. The checks are re-run automatically whenever the rate file changes, and a separate check watches OPM's premium page for a new effective date.