SPIA Payout Index

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LifeAnnuities.us SPIA Payout Index, October 2026 (as of October 1, 2026): a $100,000 immediate annuity pays a 65-year-old man up to $693/month for life (single life, 5-year period certain; surveyed age, repriced), $658/month for a woman (from carrier ratios, repriced) and $608/month for a couple with 100% to the survivor (from carrier ratios, calibrated to a joint quote). https://lifeannuities.us/rates/spia-payout-index/ Licence: CC BY 4.0.

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<p style="font-size:12px;color:#5b6976">Source: <a href="https://lifeannuities.us/rates/spia-payout-index/">SPIA Payout Index</a>, LifeAnnuities.us. Licence: <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY 4.0</a>.</p>

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Methodology

The full method, with its known limits, is on the methodology page. The short version:

• What it measures: the best monthly income per $100,000 single premium at age 65 (man, woman and couple) and at ages 70 and 75 (man), among the 8 US insurers we publish, each rated A or better by AM Best: New York Life, Nationwide, Western & Southern, Athene, Penn Mutual, Pacific Life, Mutual of Omaha, Lincoln Financial.
• Contract basis: Monthly income per $100,000 single premium; single life (or joint life, 100% to survivor, both spouses the same age) with a 5-year period certain; income starting one month after purchase; IRA and non-qualified quotes pooled. Our tables are built on quotes with a 5-year period certain, and every joint figure pays 100% to the survivor. Life-only quotes pay slightly more and cash-refund options slightly less.
• Source: quotes our agent runs for real clients through the quoting platform licensed agents use. The survey runs are carrier quotes, not advertised rates or illustrations. Not every published figure is a direct quote: see how each index figure is built, below.
• Base survey rounds: 54 survey runs received, 52 used for pricing, covering 30 client scenarios, prepared July 14 to September 14, 2026. 17 carriers quoted, 18 states, ages of the first-named buyer 49 to 85. Of the 54 runs received, 22 were IRA-funded and 32 non-qualified.
• Latest survey round: 7 survey runs used, covering 4 client scenarios, prepared September 18 to 29, 2026. 17 carriers quoted, 4 states, ages of the first-named buyer 52 to 66, 2 runs IRA-funded and 5 non-qualified. On October 1, 2026 we checked the tables against these runs: a repriced carrier's table moves by its own measured change on quotes for the same age and sex, and a held carrier keeps the figures it had. 11 runs were received and 4 were not used (4 runs were for a 41-year-old, well below our table ages; two of them were at $5,000,000).
• Carrier moves. Change in each carrier's quote for the same age and sex between the September 16 tables and the late-September round: Athene up about 1.8%; held: New York Life, Nationwide, Western & Southern, Penn Mutual, Pacific Life, Mutual of Omaha and Lincoln Financial. New York Life: readings were mixed, so we held its figures until the next round. Two direct comparisons with mid-September quotes came in 0.7% and 1.6% higher once premium size is allowed for. A third, measured through August, came in 0.6% lower.
• Joint calibration: joint figures at ages 65 and 70 are calibrated to a direct joint quote (same-age joint quote, both spouses 66, 100% to the survivor, 5-year period certain, prepared September 18, 2026). Change per carrier: New York Life +1.6%, Mutual of Omaha +1.4%, Pacific Life +0.8%, Penn Mutual +0.7%; Nationwide, Western & Southern, Athene and Lincoln Financial unchanged. This corrects an estimate. It is not a market move. The quote was for a $250,000 premium and our tables are stated per $100,000, so we first put it on a $100,000 basis using each carrier's own premium-size step, measured on every client quoted at both sizes on the same day (New York Life pays about 0.3% more per $100,000 at $250,000, Western & Southern 0.5%, Penn Mutual 0.3%, Mutual of Omaha 0.4%; the other four pay the same). Changes under half a percent are ignored. Earlier rounds had a same-age joint quote for a couple who were both 57; this is the first one near ages 65 and 70.
• How each index figure is built:
  • Man 65: read at a surveyed age in an earlier round, then repriced.
  • Woman 65: derived from each carrier's own ratio to its men's quote at surveyed ages, then repriced.
  • Couple 65: derived by ratio, then calibrated to a direct same-age joint quote (both spouses 66) from the latest round.
  • Man 70 and man 75: interpolated between surveyed ages in an earlier round, then repriced.
  • None of these figures is a direct quote from the latest survey round.
• Before August 2026: the March 2026, May 2026 and July 2026 rows are earlier estimates, life-only basis. They were market-survey estimates, so they are not like-for-like with the real-quote months that follow. The chart draws them as dashed lines with a break at August 2026.
• Cadence and revisions: we publish new figures in the first week of each month. When a new survey round later in the month shows carriers have moved, we reprice mid-month. Every revision is dated and stays in the table above. Example: the September 2026 reading was $675 from September 1, 2026 (August round carried forward after a yield check) until it was revised to $693 on September 16, 2026 (Repriced against 17 new survey runs).
• Best-to-lowest spread: in the tables as of October 1, 2026, the gap between the best and the lowest of the 8 published carriers for a man aged 65 on the same contract was about 17%. That gap is why comparing carriers matters.

Questions about the data or a custom cut (other ages, premiums, payout options): contact us. Phil Barker, annuity specialist, (800) 747-4201.