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PensionRisk

Is California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) Fully Funded?

California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) has a funding ratio of 67.3%, with $230.0B in unfunded liabilities. It has a Health Score of 58/100 (C). This plan is not covered by PBGC insurance.

This page answers a common pension question: Is California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) Fully Funded?. The answer below pulls from IRS Form 5500 filings (for private plans), state actuarial valuations (for public plans), and PBGC risk classifications, processed through the LakeQuality pension-health rubric. Why this matters for current and future retirees: pension benefits are promises about money 10-50 years in the future, and the funded-status numbers today are a forward-looking signal of whether those promises will be kept. The data is technical but the underlying question — am I going to get my pension? — has a straightforward answer once you read the right numbers.

The detailed answer below uses the actual filing numbers, explains how to read them, and translates the technical actuarial language into the participant-relevant version of the question.

Key Data

MetricValue
Funding Ratio67.3%
Health Score58/100 (C)
Unfunded Liability$230.0B
Total Participants2,050,000
PBGC Risk LevelNot covered
Plan Typepublic

California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) has a funding ratio of 67.3%, with $230.0B in unfunded liabilities. It has a Health Score of 58/100 (C). This plan is not covered by PBGC insurance.