SBP Calculator

What the Survivor Benefit Plan costs you each month, and what it pays your spouse for life.

Before any deductions. Not sure yet? The military retirement calculator estimates it from your grade and years of service.
The base amount is the slice of retired pay the plan is built on. Premium and annuity are both percentages of it.

Enter your gross monthly retired pay and press Calculate SBP.

How SBP works

You pick a base amount — anywhere from $300 a month up to your full gross retired pay. Two percentages then follow from it:

  • 6.5% of the base amount is your monthly premium, taken out of retired pay before tax.
  • 55% of the base amount is what your surviving spouse receives every month, for life.

Both figures rise with the same COLA that raises retired pay, so the ratio between them never changes. The election is made at retirement and is, with narrow exceptions, irrevocable.

Estimates only, for standard spouse coverage. Child-only coverage, spouse-and-child coverage and the Reserve Component SBP (RCSBP, which adds a cost for coverage before age 60) are priced differently and are not modeled here. DFAS makes the final determination; confirm your election and premium with your retirement services officer before relying on these figures.