STRS Ohio Contribution Rate

What You Pay and What Your District Pays

STRS Ohio members contribute 14% of their gross salary to the retirement system. Your employer — the school district, community college, or public university — contributes an additional 14%. The combined 28% of salary flowing into STRS Ohio funds the pensions of current retirees and builds the pool for future benefits.

Your 14% contribution is pretax. It comes out of your paycheck before federal and Ohio state income taxes are calculated, reducing your current taxable income. But it is not tax-free — those contributions, plus the interest they accumulate, are taxed when you receive them as pension income in retirement.

For a teacher earning $65,000 per year, the 14% member contribution equals $9,100 annually, or roughly $758 per month deducted from gross pay. The employer match adds another $9,100 that does not appear on your paycheck but is credited to the system on your behalf.

How Contributions Build Your Benefit

STRS Ohio is a defined benefit system, which means your pension is calculated by a formula (2.2% × years of service × Final Average Salary), not by the balance of your individual account. Your contributions go into a pooled fund that STRS Ohio invests. The investment returns, combined with ongoing employer and member contributions, pay benefits to current retirees.

This pooled structure means your pension amount does not fluctuate with market performance. Whether the stock market rises or drops, your benefit formula stays the same. The investment risk sits with the system, not with you — which is fundamentally different from a 401(k) or 403(b) where your retirement income depends on your account balance.

If you leave Ohio public teaching before qualifying for a pension, you can withdraw your accumulated member contributions plus interest. However, you forfeit the employer contributions and any pension benefit you would have earned. Restoring withdrawn contributions later — if you return to Ohio public teaching — requires repaying the withdrawn amount plus compound interest.

Why the Rate Matters for Retirement Planning

The 14% contribution rate directly affects your take-home pay throughout your career. Teachers comparing Ohio teaching salaries to private-sector jobs or to teaching positions in states without mandatory pension contributions need to account for this: 14% of your salary goes to STRS Ohio instead of your bank account. In exchange, you receive a defined benefit pension that, for a full-career teacher, typically replaces 60-70% of pre-retirement income.

The contribution rate has been stable at 14% for both members and employers for several years. Any future changes would require legislative action or State Teachers Retirement Board authorization, and would affect all active members systemwide.

IRS Section 401(a)(17) caps the amount of salary that can be used for pension contribution and benefit calculation purposes. For the 2025-2026 fiscal year, the cap is $350,000 for members who joined on or after July 1, 1996; it rises to $360,000 for 2026-2027. Earnings above these thresholds are excluded from both contribution calculations and FAS.

Combined and DC Plan Contribution Splits

Members in the Combined Plan split their 14% contribution between the defined benefit and defined contribution components: 12% of salary goes to the DC account and 2% to the DB component. The employer's full 14% contribution goes to the DB component. The DC portion flows into your individual investment account with Nationwide Retirement Solutions, where you direct it among the available fund options.

Defined Contribution Plan members direct their full 14% contribution into their individual account. Of the employer's 14% contribution, 11.09% goes to the member's DC account and 2.91% goes to STRS Ohio toward the system's unfunded liability. Since the DC Plan has no defined benefit formula, your retirement income depends on the total account balance and how you choose to withdraw it — annuitization through STRS, rollover to an IRA, or lump-sum distribution.

The STRS Ohio Retirement Guide explains how your cumulative career contributions translate into pension income at different retirement points, with worksheets for projecting your benefit at various service credit levels and Final Average Salary assumptions.

See more Ohio guides →