California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) vs Texas County & District Retirement System (TCDRS)
Side-by-side pension health comparison from DOL and public plan data
California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) and Texas County & District Retirement System (TCDRS) are meaningfully apart on the LakeQuality pension-health rubric: California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) grades C while Texas County & District Retirement System (TCDRS) grades A. Funding ratios: 67% vs 86%.
Texas County & District Retirement System (TCDRS) 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
Texas County & District Retirement System (TCDRS) has a stronger Pension Health Score of 81/100 (A) compared to California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) at 58/100 (C). Funding ratios differ by 18.9 percentage points (86.2% vs 67.3%). Texas County & District Retirement System (TCDRS) covers 385,000 participants.
| Metric | California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) | Texas County & District Retirement System (TCDRS) |
|---|---|---|
| Health Score Composite of funding ratio, trend, and PBGC risk | 58/100 (C) | 81/100 (A)* |
| Funding Ratio Assets as % of liabilities (100%+ is fully funded) | 67.3% | 86.2%* |
| Total Assets | $473.0B | $39.5B |
| Total Liabilities | $703.0B | $45.8B* |
| Unfunded Liability | $230.0B | $6.3B* |
| Participants | 2,050,000 | 385,000 |
| 1-Year Investment Return | 5.8% | 6.6%* |
| Plan Type | public | public |
| PBGC Risk Level | moderate | low |
| Sponsor | State of California | Texas Counties |
Texas County & District Retirement System (TCDRS) has a stronger Pension Health Score of 81/100 (A) compared to California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) at 58/100 (C). Funding ratios differ by 18.9 percentage points (86.2% vs 67.3%). Texas County & District Retirement System (TCDRS) covers 385,000 participants.