California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) vs New York State Teachers Retirement System (NYSTRS)
Side-by-side pension health comparison from DOL and public plan data
California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) and New York State Teachers Retirement System (NYSTRS) are meaningfully apart on the LakeQuality pension-health rubric: California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) grades C while New York State Teachers Retirement System (NYSTRS) grades A. Funding ratios: 67% vs 97%.
New York State Teachers Retirement System (NYSTRS) comes out ahead on the composite rubric. For a participant in either plan, the spread is informative but not directly actionable — pension participation is not portable, so the relevant question is what each plan's funded-status trajectory means for that participant's benefit security.
Verdict
New York State Teachers Retirement System (NYSTRS) has a stronger Pension Health Score of 82/100 (A) compared to California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) at 58/100 (C). Funding ratios differ by 29.8 percentage points (97.1% vs 67.3%). New York State Teachers Retirement System (NYSTRS) covers 433,000 participants.
| Metric | California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) | New York State Teachers Retirement System (NYSTRS) |
|---|---|---|
| Health Score Composite of funding ratio, trend, and PBGC risk | 58/100 (C) | 82/100 (A)* |
| Funding Ratio Assets as % of liabilities (100%+ is fully funded) | 67.3% | 97.1%* |
| Total Assets | $473.0B | $131.0B |
| Total Liabilities | $703.0B | $134.9B* |
| Unfunded Liability | $230.0B | $3.9B* |
| Participants | 2,050,000 | 433,000 |
| 1-Year Investment Return | 5.8% | 6.8%* |
| Plan Type | public | public |
| PBGC Risk Level | moderate | low |
| Sponsor | State of California | State of New York |
New York State Teachers Retirement System (NYSTRS) has a stronger Pension Health Score of 82/100 (A) compared to California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) at 58/100 (C). Funding ratios differ by 29.8 percentage points (97.1% vs 67.3%). New York State Teachers Retirement System (NYSTRS) covers 433,000 participants.