California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) vs UPS Retirement Plan
Side-by-side pension health comparison from DOL and public plan data
California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) and UPS Retirement Plan are meaningfully apart on the LakeQuality pension-health rubric: California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) grades B while UPS Retirement Plan grades A. Funding ratios: 73% vs 91%.
UPS Retirement Plan 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
UPS Retirement Plan has a stronger Pension Health Score of 95/100 (A) compared to California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) at 73/100 (B). Funding ratios differ by 17.8 percentage points (90.7% vs 72.9%). UPS Retirement Plan covers 243,932 participants.
| Metric | California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) | UPS Retirement Plan |
|---|---|---|
| Health Score Composite of funding ratio, trend, and PBGC risk | 73/100 (B) | 95/100 (A)* |
| Funding Ratio Assets as % of liabilities (100%+ is fully funded) | 72.9% | 90.7%* |
| Total Assets | $318.0B | $9.7B |
| Total Liabilities | $436.0B | $10.7B* |
| Unfunded Liability | $118.0B | $993.0M* |
| Participants | 985,000 | 243,932 |
| 1-Year Investment Return | 6.2% | 6.7%* |
| Plan Type | public | corporate |
| PBGC Risk Level | moderate | low |
| Sponsor | State of California | United Parcel Service |
UPS Retirement Plan has a stronger Pension Health Score of 95/100 (A) compared to California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) at 73/100 (B). Funding ratios differ by 17.8 percentage points (90.7% vs 72.9%). UPS Retirement Plan covers 243,932 participants.