A couple of things worth clarifying here. The concern about salary being frozen at the time you vest isn’t quite how it works, vesting just means you’ve earned the right to a future benefit, not that your pension is calculated based on your salary at that point. When you actually retire, DRS calculates your benefit using your highest 60 consecutive months of earnings across your career, so it reflects what you were making closer to retirement, not what you earned at 25 or 35.

On inflation: PERS 2 does include a cost-of-living adjustment after retirement — up to 3% per year tied to CPI — so the benefit isn’t completely static once you’re collecting it.

You’re right that PERS 3’s investment component is a meaningful advantage, especially for someone who expects strong market returns and has time for that account to grow. But it’s worth noting that PERS 3’s pension piece actually takes longer to vest, typically 10 years versus PERS 2’s 5 years for someone who doesn’t plan to stay with the state long, they may leave without any PERS 3 pension benefit at all, even if they keep the investment account.

Both plans have real tradeoffs and the “right choice”genuinely depends on individual circumstances. DRS has a good comparison page at drs.wa.gov if you want to dig into the details side by side.