Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) vs Pennsylvania State Employees Retirement System (SERS)
Side-by-side pension health comparison from DOL and public plan data
Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) and Pennsylvania State Employees Retirement System (SERS) are meaningfully apart on the LakeQuality pension-health rubric: Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) grades A while Pennsylvania State Employees Retirement System (SERS) grades C. Funding ratios: 83% vs 63%.
Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) 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
Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) has a stronger Pension Health Score of 80/100 (A) compared to Pennsylvania State Employees Retirement System (SERS) at 57/100 (C). Funding ratios differ by 19.4 percentage points (82.5% vs 63.1%). Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) covers 762,000 participants.
| Metric | Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) | Pennsylvania State Employees Retirement System (SERS) |
|---|---|---|
| Health Score Composite of funding ratio, trend, and PBGC risk | 80/100 (A)* | 57/100 (C) |
| Funding Ratio Assets as % of liabilities (100%+ is fully funded) | 82.5%* | 63.1% |
| Total Assets | $105.0B | $36.2B |
| Total Liabilities | $127.3B | $57.4B* |
| Unfunded Liability | $22.3B | $21.2B* |
| Participants | 762,000 | 245,000 |
| 1-Year Investment Return | 6.2%* | 5.4% |
| Plan Type | public | public |
| PBGC Risk Level | low | high |
| Sponsor | State of Ohio | State of Pennsylvania |
Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) has a stronger Pension Health Score of 80/100 (A) compared to Pennsylvania State Employees Retirement System (SERS) at 57/100 (C). Funding ratios differ by 19.4 percentage points (82.5% vs 63.1%). Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) covers 762,000 participants.