NYSTRS Tier 6 Explained: Contribution Rates and the 3-Year FAS Rule

Tier 6 is the tier for anyone hired today

Every teacher who has joined NYSTRS since April 1, 2012 is a Tier 6 member — there is no newer tier, and there's no way to be assigned an older tier no matter how the position is described. If you were hired in the last decade or more, Tier 6 is your tier, full stop.

Tier 6 also carries a longer contribution obligation than the tiers before it: rather than contributions stopping after 10 years like Tier 4, Tier 6 members contribute for their entire active membership.

The contribution rate is set by your salary, not fixed

Tier 6 uses an income-based contribution schedule rather than one flat percentage. Members earning $45,000 or less contribute 3.0%. Above $45,000 up to $55,000, the rate is 3.5%. Above $55,000 up to $75,000, it's 4.5%. Above $75,000 up to $100,000, it's 5.75%. Above $100,000, the rate is 6.0%, applied up to the pensionable salary limit. For school years ending June 30, 2023 through June 30, 2028, the rate calculation uses base wages from the lookback year; members still pay that rate on all pensionable earnings.

For your first three years as a Tier 6 member, the rate is set based on your projected reportable earnings. Starting in year four, it switches to being based on the pensionable earnings you actually received two years earlier — so a raise this year won't change your contribution rate until a couple of years out.

Final average salary now uses 3 years, not 5

Final Average Salary (FAS) for Tier 6 is based on your highest three consecutive years of earnings — shortened from the original five-year rule. The calculation also excludes any year-over-year salary jump that exceeds 10% of the average of the previous two years, so a large one-time bonus or a stipend spike near retirement generally won't inflate your FAS the way it might appear to on paper.

That anti-spiking rule matters most for anyone counting on a big final-year bump — a department chair stipend, an unusual overload assignment, a lump payout — to raise their pension. If the increase clears the 10% threshold, NYSTRS caps how much of it counts.

Vesting and early retirement

Tier 6 members (along with Tiers 2 through 5) vest — meaning they lock in a right to a future pension — after 5 years of New York State service credit. An active member can generally retire as early as age 55 with 5 years of service credit, with an age-factor reduction unless an unreduced route applies. Under legislation effective April 1, 2026, a Tier 6 member with at least 30 years of service credit can retire without an age-related reduction at age 58; the other unreduced route remains age 63.

Because Tier 6 is relatively young as tiers go — the oldest Tier 6 members have been contributing for about 14 years as of 2026 — most Tier 6 members are still well short of a full, unreduced pension and are years away from needing to make a retirement-date decision.

Why the contribution rate can feel like it changes on its own

New Tier 6 members sometimes notice their contribution rate shift a few years into their career even though their raise doesn't feel that large. That's the timing rule: your rate isn't based on this year's salary after year three — it's based on what you earned two years earlier. A raise this year shows up in your contribution rate two years from now, not on your next paycheck.