IRS life expectancy tables and RMD

Age	Distribution period (years)
72	27.4
73	26.5
74	25.5
75 · your age	24.6
76	23.7
77	22.9
78	22.0
79	21.1
80	20.2
81	19.4
82	18.5
83	17.7
84	16.8
85	16.0
86	15.2
87	14.4
88	13.7
89	12.9
90	12.2
91	11.5
92	10.8
93	10.1
94	9.5
95	8.9
96	8.4
97	7.8
98	7.3
99	6.8
100	6.4
101	6.0
102	5.6
103	5.2
104	4.9
105	4.6
106	4.3
107	4.1
108	3.9
109	3.7
110	3.5
111	3.4
112	3.3
113	3.1
114	3.0
115	2.9
116	2.8
117	2.7
118	2.5
119	2.3
120 and over	2.0

Updated October 30, 2026 · Free, no sign-up, nothing stored

Educational illustration, not financial advice.

Built and maintained by a former actuary with qualifications in finance and economics.

Methodology: formulas, data and limits

The IRS publishes three life expectancy tables that set how much must come out of a traditional IRA each year once required minimum distributions (RMDs) start. This page shows all three tables from IRS Publication 590-B (Publication 590-B (2025), Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs). For use in preparing 2025 Returns), lets you look up any age, and works out the RMD for the balance and age you enter. It is one of our retirement income calculators.

How the IRS life expectancy tables work

Each table turns an age into a number of years, which the IRS calls the Applicable denominatorThe IRS name for the distribution period: the number the year-end balance is divided by to get the required minimum distribution. or distribution period. Divide the account balance by it and you get the minimum you have to take out that year. The tables are in Appendix B of Publication 590-B:

Table I, Single Life Expectancy, covers ages 0 to 120+. It is for beneficiaries who inherit an IRA and take distributions over their own life expectancy.
Table II, Joint and Last Survivor Life Expectancy, covers pairs of ages from 20 to 120+. An owner uses it when the spouse is the sole designated beneficiary and more than 10 years younger. You read the figure where the row for one age meets the column for the other.
Table III, Uniform Lifetime, covers ages 72 to 120 and over. Every other IRA owner uses it: unmarried owners, and married owners whose spouse is not the sole beneficiary or is not more than 10 years younger.

Ages are your age on your birthday in the distribution year, not your age today. On when distributions start, the publication says: “If you reach age 72 after December 31, 2022, you must begin receiving required minimum distributions by April 1 of the year following the year you reach the age 73.” Like any life expectancy, each figure is an average, and many people live well beyond it.

How the RMD is calculated

\text{RMD} = \frac{\text{Balance}}{L}

$\text{Balance}$ is the account balance at the end of last year and $L$ is the distribution period from the table that applies.

The balance is the amount in the IRA at the close of business on December 31 of the year before. The publication adjusts it for rollovers that were in transit at the year end and ignores contributions and distributions made after December 31. Each traditional IRA gets its own calculation. If you own more than one, you may add the amounts together and take the total from any of them.

The share of the balance that must come out rises with age because the period shrinks. Under Table III, the period at 73 is 26.5 years, so the RMD is 3.77% of the balance. At 80 it is 20.2 years (4.95%), and at 90 it is 12.2 years (8.20%).

Worked example

Take an IRA owner who turns 75 this year, with $500,000 in the account on December 31 last year. The spouse turns 72 and is the sole beneficiary. The spouse is 3 years younger, which is not more than 10, so the owner uses the Uniform Lifetime Table. The period at 75 is 24.6 years, and $500,000 divided by 24.6 gives an RMD of $20,325, which is 4.07% of the balance.

Now suppose the spouse turns 62 instead, 13 years younger. That is more than 10 years, so Table II applies. The joint figure for ages 75 and 62 is 26.8 years and the RMD falls to $18,657. The joint figure is the expected time until the second of two deaths, and with a much younger spouse that is longer.

A beneficiary works differently. Someone who turns 57 in the year after the owner’s death and uses Table I starts with 29.8 years, an RMD of $16,779 on the same balance. They do not look the table up again each year. They subtract one for each later year instead, so 3 years later the period is 26.8 and the same balance would give $18,657.

Open “Show the working” under the results to see each step for your own numbers.

The uniform lifetime table for 2026

The current tables took effect for distribution years beginning on or after January 1, 2022. The 2025 edition of Publication 590-B prints the same tables and uses them in its examples for 2026 distributions, based on the balance at the end of the year before. The IRS updates the publication each year, so check the current edition before relying on a figure. This page records the edition it was built from and the date it was retrieved (2026-10-22).

The single life expectancy table for inherited IRAs

The Single Life Expectancy TableIRS Table I. Beneficiaries who take distributions over their life expectancy use it. applies only to beneficiaries who use the life expectancy method. That is mainly an eligible designated beneficiary: the owner’s surviving spouse, a minor child of the owner, a disabled or chronically ill person, or anyone not more than 10 years younger than the owner. A designated beneficiary who is not an eligible designated beneficiary must empty the account within 10 years of the owner’s death under the 10-year rule, which does not use the table. At 73, Table I gives 16.4 years, much shorter than the Uniform Lifetime figure at the same age.

What this leaves out

This tool implements only the table choices the publication describes for an owner during their lifetime and for an eligible designated beneficiary using life expectancy. It leaves out:

The 5-year and 10-year rules, and the year-by-year rules for a beneficiary under the 10-year rule.
The special choices open to a surviving spouse who is the sole beneficiary, such as treating the IRA as their own.
Accounts with no designated beneficiary, more than one beneficiary, or a trust as beneficiary.
The RMD in the year the owner dies, and owners who died after their required beginning date.
Annuity contracts bought with part of the balance, and the final years when a reduced Table I figure falls to 1 or below.
Roth IRAs, 401(k) and other workplace plans, whose rules differ in places.
Taxes on the distribution, and the excise tax on a missed RMD.

Educational illustration, not financial or tax advice. For your own account, the IRA custodian’s figure or a tax professional is the authority.

Questions

Which IRS life expectancy table do I use for my RMD?

Most IRA owners use Table III, the Uniform Lifetime Table. An owner whose spouse is the sole beneficiary and more than 10 years younger uses Table II, the Joint and Last Survivor table, which gives a longer period and a smaller minimum. Beneficiaries who take distributions over their life expectancy use Table I, the Single Life Expectancy table.

How do I calculate my RMD from the life expectancy table?

Divide the account balance on December 31 of last year by the distribution period for your age this year from the table that applies to you. Work out a separate amount for each traditional IRA. An owner of several IRAs may add the amounts together and take the total from any one or more of them.

What is the single life expectancy table used for?

Table I gives the single life expectancy that an eligible designated beneficiary uses for an inherited IRA. You look up your age in the year after the owner's death, then reduce that figure by one for each later year. Many other beneficiaries must instead empty the account under the 10-year rule, which does not use the table.

Is the life expectancy in the IRS table how long I will live?

No. The figures are distribution periods that spread withdrawals over time, not a forecast for any person. At every age the Uniform Lifetime period is longer than the Single Life figure, so owners using it take smaller minimums. A calculator based on a mortality table shows the chance of living to a given age instead.

Sources

IRS Publication 590-B, Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs), Appendix B

What is my RMD under the IRS life expectancy tables?

Table III (Uniform Lifetime)