RMD table: the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table, ages 72 to 120+

Key points

• The RMD table most owners use is the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table. It gives one factor for each age from 72 to 120 and over.
• Your RMD is last year’s December 31 balance divided by the factor for the age you reach this year. At 73 the factor is 26.5, so the RMD is 3.77% of the balance. At 90 it is 12.2, or 8.20%.
• If your spouse is your sole beneficiary and more than 10 years younger, the Joint and Last Survivor Table applies instead. For owners up to age 115 its factor is larger, so the RMD is smaller.
• The current tables have applied since 2022. None of the factors had changed when we checked on October 27, 2026.

The IRS uses three life expectancy tables for required minimum distributions (RMDs). This page prints the one most owners need in full, shows what each factor means in dollars, and explains when one of the other two applies.

This guide covers federal rules, not state income tax. For the rest of the RMD rules, from start age to penalties, see our complete guide to RMDs.

We checked every factor against the regulation, 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-9, and against IRS Publication 590-B on October 27, 2026. The sources are listed at the end.

RMD table for 2026: the Uniform Lifetime Table

Find the age you reach on your birthday this year. The factor next to it is the number you divide by. The last two columns show the same factor as a share of the balance (rounded to two decimal places) and as the RMD on each $100,000 of balance.

Age	Factor	Share of balance	RMD per $100,000
72	27.4	3.65%	$3,649.64
73	26.5	3.77%	$3,773.58
74	25.5	3.92%	$3,921.57
75	24.6	4.07%	$4,065.04
76	23.7	4.22%	$4,219.41
77	22.9	4.37%	$4,366.81
78	22.0	4.55%	$4,545.45
79	21.1	4.74%	$4,739.34
80	20.2	4.95%	$4,950.50
81	19.4	5.15%	$5,154.64
82	18.5	5.41%	$5,405.41
83	17.7	5.65%	$5,649.72
84	16.8	5.95%	$5,952.38
85	16.0	6.25%	$6,250.00
86	15.2	6.58%	$6,578.95
87	14.4	6.94%	$6,944.44
88	13.7	7.30%	$7,299.27
89	12.9	7.75%	$7,751.94
90	12.2	8.20%	$8,196.72
91	11.5	8.70%	$8,695.65
92	10.8	9.26%	$9,259.26
93	10.1	9.90%	$9,900.99
94	9.5	10.53%	$10,526.32
95	8.9	11.24%	$11,235.96
96	8.4	11.90%	$11,904.76
97	7.8	12.82%	$12,820.51
98	7.3	13.70%	$13,698.63
99	6.8	14.71%	$14,705.88
100	6.4	15.63%	$15,625.00
101	6.0	16.67%	$16,666.67
102	5.6	17.86%	$17,857.14
103	5.2	19.23%	$19,230.77
104	4.9	20.41%	$20,408.16
105	4.6	21.74%	$21,739.13
106	4.3	23.26%	$23,255.81
107	4.1	24.39%	$24,390.24
108	3.9	25.64%	$25,641.03
109	3.7	27.03%	$27,027.03
110	3.5	28.57%	$28,571.43
111	3.4	29.41%	$29,411.76
112	3.3	30.30%	$30,303.03
113	3.1	32.26%	$32,258.06
114	3.0	33.33%	$33,333.33
115	2.9	34.48%	$34,482.76
116	2.8	35.71%	$35,714.29
117	2.7	37.04%	$37,037.04
118	2.5	40.00%	$40,000.00
119	2.3	43.48%	$43,478.26
120 and over	2.0	50.00%	$50,000.00

The figures are from 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-9(c). Publication 590-B prints the same 49 figures as “Table III (Uniform Lifetime)” in appendix B.

The table applies to every distribution year from 2022 on. So the same factors apply to 2027 RMDs unless the regulation is changed.

The table starts at 72, the RMD age for people born from July 1, 1949, through 1950. Today the RMD age is 73 if you were born from 1951 to 1958 and 75 if you were born in 1960 or later. For 1959 the statute can be read as 73 or 75, the final regulations leave that paragraph “Reserved”, and proposed regulations from July 2024 say 73. Our RMD age guide has the detail.

How to read the RMD table

The age is the age you reach this year. Use your age on your birthday in the RMD year, even if that birthday falls in December. In Publication 590-B’s words, the factor for 2026 is “listed in the table next to your age as of your birthday in 2026”.

The factor is a divisor. The regulation and Publication 590-B call it the “applicable denominator”. Some IRS web pages still use the older name, “distribution period”. Divide the balance by it.

Look the factor up again each year. An owner does not subtract 1 from last year’s factor. The regulation ties each year’s figure to “the employee’s age as of the employee’s birthday in the relevant distribution calendar year”. Subtracting 1 a year is a method for some beneficiaries, covered below.

The share grows with age. One divided by the factor is the share of the balance you must take. It is 3.65% at 72, 4.95% at 80, 8.20% at 90 and 15.63% at 100. Even at 120 and over the factor is 2.0, so the RMD is half the balance.

The factor is not your life expectancy. At 72 the Uniform Lifetime factor is 27.4 years, while the Single Life Table gives a 72-year-old 17.2 years. The Uniform Lifetime factor is a joint figure for you and a hypothetical beneficiary 10 years younger. When the tables were last updated, Treasury described it as “equal to the joint and last survivor life expectancy for the employee and a hypothetical beneficiary 10 years younger”. We checked this by script: at every age from 72 to 120 and over, the Uniform Lifetime factor equals the joint factor for two people exactly 10 years apart.

Example. You turn 76 in 2026. Your IRA held $250,000 on December 31, 2025. The factor for 76 is 23.7.

$250,000 ÷ 23.7 = $10,548.52

Run this example in our RMD calculator. For the balance rules, rollovers in transit and more worked examples, see how to calculate your RMD.

Which RMD table applies to you?

Your situation	IRS table	Label in Publication 590-B
You own the account. You are unmarried, or your spouse is not your sole beneficiary, or your spouse is not more than 10 years younger	Uniform Lifetime	“Table III (Uniform Lifetime)”
You own the account. Your spouse is your sole beneficiary and more than 10 years younger	Joint and Last Survivor	“Table II (Joint and Last Survivor Life Expectancy)”
You inherited the account and take yearly RMDs from it (a surviving spouse has other options, below)	Single Life	“Table I (Single Life Expectancy)”
You own a Roth IRA	None while you are alive	No table needed

The Uniform Lifetime Table covers traditional, SEP and SIMPLE IRAs and workplace plans such as 401(k)s. The IRS says: “There are no RMD requirements for a Roth IRA or designated Roth accounts while the owner is alive.” Our Roth IRA RMD guide covers the Roth side.

Three details decide the spouse row:

• Sole beneficiary for the whole year. The regulation counts the spouse only if they are “the sole beneficiary of the employee’s entire interest at all times during the distribution calendar year”. Naming anyone else alongside your spouse puts you back on the Uniform Lifetime Table. Our IRA beneficiary guide covers designations.
• Marital status is fixed on January 1. If your spouse is your beneficiary on January 1, they count for that whole year, even after a divorce or death later in the year.
• Exactly 10 years younger does not count. The regulation and Publication 590-B say “more than 10 years younger”. The IRS RMD topics page says “ten or more years younger”. In practice the result is the same: for a spouse exactly 10 years younger the joint factor equals the Uniform Lifetime factor.

Spouse more than 10 years younger: the Joint and Last Survivor Table

This table has a factor for every pair of ages from 0 to 120 and over, a grid of 121 rows by 121 columns. It is too large to print here. Publication 590-B prints it as Table II, and the regulation as Table 3 to paragraph (d).

To look up a pair, take your age on your birthday this year and your spouse’s age on their birthday this year. Publication 590-B: the factor “is located where the row or column containing your age as of your birthday in 2026 intersects with the row or column containing your spouse’s age as of their birthday in 2026.”

This excerpt compares the two tables at a spouse age gap of 11 and of 20 years:

Your age	Uniform Lifetime	Spouse 11 years younger	Spouse 20 years younger
72	27.4	28.1	35.2
73	26.5	27.2	34.2
74	25.5	26.2	33.3
75	24.6	25.3	32.4
76	23.7	24.4	31.4
77	22.9	23.5	30.5
78	22.0	22.7	29.6
80	20.2	20.9	27.8
85	16.0	16.7	23.3
90	12.2	12.8	19.1
95	8.9	9.4	15.1
100	6.4	6.8	11.5

The joint factor is larger than the Uniform Lifetime factor at every owner age from 72 to 115, so the RMD is smaller. We checked all 4,214 qualifying pairs by script. At 116 and over, 10 pairs give the same factor. None gives a smaller one.

Publication 590-B’s example. You turn 75 in 2026 and your spouse, the sole beneficiary, turns 64. The factor is 25.3. On a $100,000 balance the IRS shows an RMD of $3,953 ($100,000 ÷ 25.3, rounded to the dollar).

A larger gap. You turn 80 in 2026 and your spouse, the sole beneficiary, turns 65. Your IRA held $400,000 on December 31, 2025.

• Joint and Last Survivor Table, ages 80 and 65: $400,000 ÷ 23.8 = $16,806.72
• Uniform Lifetime Table, age 80: $400,000 ÷ 20.2 = $19,801.98

The joint table lowers this RMD by $2,995.26. Run it in the calculator with the spouse filled in. The calculator looks up the joint factor when you tick the spouse box and enter your spouse’s birth year.

An IRA custodian’s RMD statement is allowed to assume your spouse is not more than 10 years younger. If this table applies to you, the figure on the statement can be higher than the law requires.

The Single Life Table for beneficiaries

The Single Life Table gives one person’s life expectancy at each age from 0 to 120 and over. Beneficiaries use it when they must take yearly RMDs from an inherited account. The regulation: “all life expectancies are determined using the Single Life Table”.

Age	Single Life factor	Age	Single Life factor
50	36.2	72	17.2
55	31.6	75	14.8
60	27.1	80	11.2
65	22.9	85	8.1
70	18.8	90	5.7

How a beneficiary uses it depends on who they are:

• A beneficiary who is not the surviving spouse looks up their age once, in the year after the owner’s death, then subtracts 1 for each later year.
• A surviving spouse who is the sole beneficiary and stays a beneficiary gets a new factor each year. The final regulations take it from the Single Life Table at the spouse’s age that year. Publication 590-B (2025) says such a spouse “may use” Table III, the Uniform Lifetime Table. Proposed regulations from July 2024 would use the Uniform Lifetime Table in some cases, but they were not final when we checked on October 27, 2026. A spouse who treats the IRA as their own uses the Uniform Lifetime Table as an owner. Our spousal inherited IRA guide compares these choices.
• If the owner died on or after their required beginning date, the owner’s remaining life expectancy can apply instead when it is longer.

Which beneficiaries take yearly RMDs, and when the 10-year rule applies instead, is covered in our inherited IRA RMD guide and our guide to the 10-year rule.

Does the RMD table change every year? The 2022 update

No. The tables are not updated each year. The current tables “apply for distribution calendar years beginning on or after January 1, 2022”. Before that, older tables applied.

When Treasury and the IRS adopted the current tables in 2020, they said they “currently anticipate that they will review the tables at the earlier of: (1) 10 years or (2) whenever a new study of individual annuity mortality experience is published.” The regulation was amended in 2024, but no factor changed. We compared the eCFR text as of January 1, 2023, with the text as of October 23, 2026, by script: all three tables match.

The 2022 tables reflect longer life expectancies, so the factors went up and RMDs went down. In Treasury’s words: “The effect of these changes is to reduce required minimum distributions generally”.

Age	Factor before 2022	Factor from 2022	Change
72	25.6	27.4	+1.8
75	22.9	24.6	+1.7
80	18.7	20.2	+1.5
85	14.8	16.0	+1.2
90	11.4	12.2	+0.8
95	8.6	8.9	+0.3
100	6.3	6.4	+0.1
105	4.5	4.6	+0.1
110	3.1	3.5	+0.4

The old table ran from age 70 to 115 and over. RMDs then started at 70½. At every age from 72 to 115 the new factor is the same or larger. It is the same only at 103 and 104.

What it meant in dollars. At 75, on a $500,000 balance:

• Old table: $500,000 ÷ 22.9 = $21,834.06
• Current table: $500,000 ÷ 24.6 = $20,325.20

The current table asks for $1,508.86 less.

Beneficiaries who were already subtracting 1 a year from an old-table figure got a reset. The regulation’s own example: a beneficiary who turned 76 in 2020 used 12.7 for 2020 and 11.7 for 2021 under the old table. Instead of 10.7, the figure for 2022 became 12.1, the new table’s 14.1 for age 76 minus 2.

Since 2022 one change to the table has been proposed, not adopted. Proposed regulations from July 2024 would republish the Uniform Lifetime Table with ages from 10 up, not just from 72. Every factor from 72 up would stay the same. They were not final when we checked on October 27, 2026.

Where the official RMD tables are published

• The regulation. 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-9 sets out all three tables: the Single Life Table in paragraph (b), the Uniform Lifetime Table in paragraph (c) and the Joint and Last Survivor Table in paragraph (d). Paragraph (e) lists the mortality rates behind them.
• IRS Publication 590-B, appendix B. The 2025 edition, for 2025 returns, was the current one when we checked. It prints “Table I (Single Life Expectancy)”, “Table II (Joint and Last Survivor Life Expectancy)” and “Table III (Uniform Lifetime)”.

We compared the publication with the regulation cell by cell. Its Single Life Table (121 ages) and Uniform Lifetime Table (49 ages) match exactly. Its Joint and Last Survivor Table covers ages 20 and over in 5,611 cells, and 4 of them differ from the regulation by 0.1.

Only one of those 4 pairs falls under the spouse rule: an owner of 90 with a spouse of 76. Publication 590-B prints 14.8. The regulation, and the Federal Register text that adopted it in 2020, give 14.7. The other 3 pairs are owner 112 with a spouse of 102, 103 or 107, all 10 years apart or less, so they use the Uniform Lifetime Table. Our tables and our RMD calculator use the regulation’s figures.

The one pair that matters makes a small difference. With the regulation’s 14.7, the RMD on each $100,000 is $6,802.72. With Publication 590-B’s 14.8 it would be $6,756.76, which is $45.96 less than the regulation’s figure.

About this guide

Written by the Diversify Guy editorial desk. Diversify Guy is a pen name. It is the byline of our editorial team, not a single individual. We do not publish personal trading records or claim to be your adviser. We tell you where every figure came from so you can check it yourself. How we work and how we get paid.

This guide explains federal rules. It is not personalized tax or investment advice. Diversify Guy earns affiliate commissions and advertising fees from companies featured elsewhere on the site. This page carries no ads and no affiliate links.

Sources and check dates

All sources were fetched and checked on October 27, 2026.

• 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-9 (Single Life, Uniform Lifetime and Joint and Last Survivor Tables), eCFR, title 26 up to date as of October 23, 2026: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/section-1.401(a)(9)-9
• 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-9 as in effect before 2022 (eCFR point-in-time January 1, 2020) and as of January 1, 2023: https://www.ecfr.gov/on/2020-01-01/title-26/section-1.401(a)(9)-9 and https://www.ecfr.gov/on/2023-01-01/title-26/section-1.401(a)(9)-9
• 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-5 (account balance, applicable denominator, spouse rule, beneficiaries’ life expectancy): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/section-1.401(a)(9)-5
• 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-2 (applicable age by date of birth): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/section-1.401(a)(9)-2
• Updated Life Expectancy and Distribution Period Tables, T.D. 9930, Federal Register, November 12, 2020: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/11/12/2020-24723/updated-life-expectancy-and-distribution-period-tables-used-for-purposes-of-determining-minimum
• Proposed RMD regulations, REG-103529-23, Federal Register, July 19, 2024: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/07/19/2024-14543/required-minimum-distributions
• Internal Revenue Code section 401(a)(9)(C)(v), U.S. Code 2024 edition: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title26/html/USCODE-2024-title26-subtitleA-chap1-subchapD-partI-subpartA-sec401.htm
• IRS Publication 590-B (2025), Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs), appendix B: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p590b and https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p590b.pdf
• IRS, Retirement topics: Required minimum distributions (RMDs): https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-required-minimum-distributions-rmds
• IRS, RMD comparison chart (IRAs vs. defined contribution plans): https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/rmd-comparison-chart-iras-vs-defined-contribution-plans
• eCFR point-in-time text of 26 CFR 1.401(a)(9)-9 on September 16 and 17, 2024 (the 2024 amendment, in effect from September 17, 2024, renamed “distribution period” to “applicable denominator”): https://www.ecfr.gov/on/2024-09-16/title-26/section-1.401(a)(9)-9 and https://www.ecfr.gov/on/2024-09-17/title-26/section-1.401(a)(9)-9
• Federal Register search for final rules on required minimum distributions published after July 19, 2024 (run October 27, 2026; it found none that changes these rules): https://www.federalregister.gov/api/v1/documents.json?conditions%5Bterm%5D=%22required+minimum+distributions%22&conditions%5Btype%5D%5B%5D=RULE&conditions%5Bpublication_date%5D%5Bgte%5D=2024-07-20
• 2026 Instructions for Forms 1099-R and 5498: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1099r.pdf