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United States 

Office of 

Personnel Management 

The Federal Government’s Human Resources Agency

Benefits Administration Letter

Number: 21-301 Date: January 2021 

Subject: Fiscal Year 2021 Federal Employee Benefits Cost Factors for Calculating 

Imputed Costs 

This letter provides the FY 2021 cost factors for the Federal civilian benefit programs. Agencies 

will use these factors to calculate their imputed costs related to the Civil Service Retirement 

System (CSRS), the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), the Federal Employees 

Health Benefits Program (FEHB) and the Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance Program 

(FEGLI). The imputed costs are used to determine the actuarial liabilities which are included in 

Governmental financial statements. 

Benefits Administration Letter (BAL) 03-309, dated September 15, 2003, provides detailed 

instructions for the computation and accounting for imputed costs related to the Federal civilian 

benefit programs. 

COST FACTORS

Pensions. The economic assumptions used to calculate the FY 2021 cost factors under 

Statement of Federal Financial Accounting Standard (SFFAS) 33: Pensions, Other Retirement 

Benefits, and Other Postemployment Benefits: Reporting the Gains and Losses from Changes in 

Assumptions and Selecting Discount Rates and Valuation Dates are based on a 10-year historical 

average. These economic assumptions differ from those established by OPM under guidance 

from the CSRS Board of Actuaries for the determination of certain statutory funding payments 

for CSRS and FERS. 

The FY 2021 cost factors for all categories of CSRS coverage are attached. While agency 

payments under CSRS are not affected by the CSRS normal cost percentages for most agencies, 

the CSRS normal cost percentages established by SFFAS 33 are used to determine the actuarial 

liabilities which are included in Governmental financial statements. 

The FY 2021 cost factors reported in this BAL differ from the normal cost percentages used to 

determine the employer contributions agencies pay for FERS employees. The cost factors for all 

categories of FERS coverage are herein. Since the cost factors reported under SFFAS 33 are 

determined on a different basis than the actual FERS normal cost contributions, agencies should 

expect to continue to report future imputed retirement costs for their FERS employees. 
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FEHB Program. OPM is providing the FEHB cost factors for the United States Postal Service 

as well as the cost factors for the remainder of the Government in this letter. For FY 2021, the 

Non-Postal cost factor is $8,476 and the Postal cost factor is $9,347 per enrolled employee. 

Please note that the cost factors shown below are based on the actuarial assumptions required by

SFFAS 33, as calculated by the FEHB actuary. 

Non-Postal 

Quarter Factor 

1

st $2,086

2

nd $2,107

3

rd $2,130

4

th $2,153

FY 2021 $8,476

Postal 

Quarter Factor 

1

st $2,300

2

nd $2,324

3

rd $2,349

4

th $2,374

FY 2021 $9,347

FEGLI Program. The FY 2021 cost factor for the FEGLI is 0.02 percent of basic pay, the same 

as in previous years. 

STATEMENT FOR AUDITORS 

The FY 2021 cost factors provided in this letter are being issued before an opinion by OPM’s 

independent public accounting firm can be received for FY 2021. Nonetheless, the FY 2021 cost 

factors for “regular” CSRS and FERS coverage, as well as those for the FEHB and FEGLI 

Programs are consistent with the disclosures in the footnotes accompanying OPM’s consolidated 

FY 2020 financial statements. These statements received an unqualified audit opinion. The 

policies, procedures and controls pertaining to the calculations of the FY 2021 cost factors did 

not change from FY 2020. Consequently, auditors of FY 2021 financial statements can rely upon 

the disclosures in Office of Personnel Management’s FY 2020 financial statements and the 

related audit opinion. 

Please email any questions regarding this BAL to FinancialBALs@opm.gov.

 DENNIS D. COLEMAN 

Chief Financial Officer 

Enclosed 
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Enclosed 

2021 COST FACTORS FOR THE CSRS AND FERS 

CSRS

CATEGORY COST FACTOR (%) 

Regular Non-Postal 42.1%

Regular Postal Service 35.8%

Regular Offset Non-Postal 31.2%

Regular Offset Postal Service 25.3%

Law Enforcement Officers 68.2%

Law Enforcement Officers - Offset 57.8%

Air Traffic Controllers 55.8%

Air Traffic Controllers – Offset 47.3%

Members of Congress 46.0%

Members of Congress – Offset 42.2%

Congressional Employees 57.2%

Congressional Employees – Offset 46.8%

FERS 

CATEGORY COST FACTOR (%) 

Regular Non-Postal 18.5%

Regular Postal Service 16.5%

Law Enforcement Officers 38.2%

Air Traffic Controllers 38.0%

Members of Congress 25.4%
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Congressional Employees 26.2%

Military Reserve Technicians 21.8%

FERS-Revised Annuity Employees (RAE) 

CATEGORY COST FACTOR (%) 

Regular Non-Postal - RAE 19.0%

Regular Postal Service - RAE 17.0%

Law Enforcement Officers - RAE 38.8%

Air Traffic Controllers - RAE 38.5%

Military Reserve Technicians - RAE 22.2%

FERS-Further Revised Annuity Employees (FRAE) 

CATEGORY COST FACTOR (%) 

Regular Non-Postal - FRAE 19.2%

Regular Postal Service - FRAE 17.3%

Law Enforcement Officers - FRAE 38.9%

Air Traffic Controllers - FRAE 38.7%

Military Reserve Technicians - FRAE 22.4%

CATEGORY COST FACTOR (%)