New York Pension Data Reveals Eye-Popping Retirement Checks

A growing number of retired educators earned at least a half-million dollars in retirement benefits.

One teacher earns over a million.

14 New York Retirees Got More Than $500,000 In Pension Benefits

Teacher helping young student with math problems at desk.

Fourteen retired New York educators received more than $500,000 each in pension benefits in 2025, according to data released by SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center's government transparency website. At least one retired teacher made over $1 million.

The data comes directly from the New York City Teachers' Retirement System, which manages pensions for NYC public school teachers, superintendents, CUNY faculty, and other education professionals.

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Six-Figure Pension Club

Officials with the Empire Center tell Hudson Valley Post that the six-figure pension club is growing fast. The number of NYCTRS retirees collecting more than $100,000 per year jumped 13.2 percent in 2025, rising from 6,486 members to 7,341.

woman in red shirt standing beside boy in green shirt

In total, 69 retirees collected pensions exceeding $300,000 last year, while 273 received more than $200,000.

Across all 93,234 NYCTRS members, 32,004 had more than 30 years of service credit, the threshold at which most members qualify for unreduced benefits. For those full-career retirees, the average annual pension payout was $81,783.

The system paid out $5.02 billion in total pension benefits in 2025, a 2.87 percent increase over the prior year's $4.88 billion.

What New Retirees Are Collecting

Among the 3,203 educators who retired in 2024 and received their first full year of benefits in 2025, 231 collected more than $100,000 and six collected more than $200,000.

For full-career retirees with more than 30 years of service, the average pension was $86,122.

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