NYSTRS Final Average Salary: How Your FAS Is Calculated and What Gets Excluded

The Three-Year Window

Your NYSTRS Final Average Salary is the average of your highest three consecutive school years of reportable salary. A school year runs July 1 to June 30.

This applies to all tiers now. Tier 6 previously used a five-year average, but Chapter 56 of the Laws of 2024 (Part QQ) permanently switched Tier 6 to the same three-year formula used by Tiers 1 through 5. If you're a Tier 6 member who's been tracking your FAS under the old five-year rule, the shorter window can produce a higher number when your highest years reflect salary growth.

The 10% Cap

For Tiers 4, 5, and 6, no year in your FAS window can exceed the average of the prior two years by more than 10%. Any salary above that threshold is excluded from the calculation.

Here's what that looks like in practice:

Year 1: $88,000 Year 2: $92,000 Year 3: $104,000

The average of years 1 and 2 is $90,000. Ten percent above that is $99,000. Year 3's $104,000 exceeds the cap by $5,000, so only $99,000 counts. Your FAS: ($88,000 + $92,000 + $99,000) / 3 = $93,000, not $94,667.

The cap prevents salary spiking — taking on additional duties or negotiating a large final-year raise specifically to inflate your pension. Under normal career progression, most teachers never trigger it.

What Counts as Reportable Salary

NYSTRS counts your regular contractual salary — the base pay your district reports each year. This includes:

• Regular annual teaching salary
• Longevity increments built into your contract
• Regular coaching and extracurricular stipends if they're part of your standard annual appointment

What Gets Excluded

These categories are excluded from reportable salary and cannot be used in your FAS calculation:

• Termination bonuses and retirement incentive payouts
• Lump-sum payments for unused sick leave (Tier 1 pre-1975 rules are the only exception)
• Non-regular taxable fringe benefits
• Extra-duty payments not part of regular contractual duties

The line between included and excluded can be blurry, especially for administrators receiving multiple stipends and supplemental payments. Your district's payroll office codes each payment category when reporting to NYSTRS — if something looks miscoded on your Benefit Profile, flag it with NYSTRS directly.

The Stipend Exclusion for Tier 6 Contribution Rates

There's a separate rule that applied only to Tier 6 contribution rates, not to FAS. Chapter 55 of the Laws of 2024 (Part KK) excluded non-base earnings like coaching stipends, summer school pay, and extracurricular pay from the calculation that determined your contribution rate bracket (3% to 6%) through June 30, 2026. That temporary exclusion has ended.

This provision is about contributions, not pension calculations. Your FAS still uses total reportable salary as defined by your contract.

Verifying Your FAS

Log into MyNYSTRS and request a formal benefit estimate. The estimate shows the salary figures NYSTRS has on file for each year, your calculated FAS, and your projected monthly benefit. If any year's salary looks wrong, contact NYSTRS before filing your retirement application — correcting salary data after retirement is significantly harder.

The NYSTRS Retirement Guide includes a FAS worksheet that walks through the calculation step by step, including the 10% cap math, so you can verify your own numbers before requesting the official estimate.

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