Summary
The Ohio Public Employees Retirement System had 219,088 at the end of 2021. They’re former members who met our age-and-service criteria required to retire.
Know the facts about OPERS' Retirees:
The most-common way to become an OPERS retiree is to meet the age-and-service criteria necessary to retire. These criteria are different depending on which retirement group the member is in.
OPERS members can go back to work after they retire. We have several specific rules both for working and retaining access to health care coverage as a re-employed retiree. For information, see the re-employment section of the Benefit Recipient Handbook(PDF opens in new tab)
On average, OPERS retirees in the defined benefit plan at the end of 2021:
- Are 58 years old at retirement
- Have an average service of 23.5 years at retirement
- Earn an average final average salary of $46,575
- Have an average pension at retirement of $23,056
In 2021, OPERS paid more than $6.1 billion in pension benefits to retirees, 89 percent of whom live in Ohio.