What Would Your Public Pension Be Worth?

Taxpayers interested in public employee pensions can now calculate the exact value of those pensions for specific cases, and even see how much a private-sector worker would have to save in an annuity to get the same benefit. The tool is available on CalculateYourPublicPension.com, a project of the Manhattan Institute, with contributions from the Common Sense Institute of New Jersey and other organizations.

The tool not only allows taxpayers to compare public pensions to private savings, but also to compare New Jersey public pensions to other states. For example, a male police officer hired in 2000 with 25 years of service and earning $90,000 when he retired at age 55 would collect an annual pension benefit of $58,500. To yield the same income, a private sector retiree would need to have saved $1,279,943 by the same age. If that police officer worked in New York instead of New Jersey, his pension would be $32,850. These estimates do not include the cost of health benefits.

“New Jersey taxpayers now have even greater insight into the good deal public employment has been and continues to be for government workers,” said CSI-NJ President Jerry Cantrell.

To see what your pension would be if you were a public worker in New Jersey, visit http://www.calculateyourpublicpension.com/NJ/