Virginia Retirement System (VRS) vs AT&T Pension Benefit Plan
Side-by-side pension health comparison from DOL and public plan data
Virginia Retirement System (VRS) and AT&T Pension Benefit Plan are meaningfully apart on the LakeQuality pension-health rubric: Virginia Retirement System (VRS) grades B while AT&T Pension Benefit Plan grades A. Funding ratios: 75% vs 94%.
AT&T Pension Benefit 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
AT&T Pension Benefit Plan has a stronger Pension Health Score of 97/100 (A) compared to Virginia Retirement System (VRS) at 70/100 (B). Funding ratios differ by 18.6 percentage points (93.7% vs 75.1%). AT&T Pension Benefit Plan covers 286,355 participants.
| Metric | Virginia Retirement System (VRS) | AT&T Pension Benefit Plan |
|---|---|---|
| Health Score Composite of funding ratio, trend, and PBGC risk | 70/100 (B) | 97/100 (A)* |
| Funding Ratio Assets as % of liabilities (100%+ is fully funded) | 75.1% | 93.7%* |
| Total Assets | $87.0B | $30.0B |
| Total Liabilities | $115.8B | $32.0B* |
| Unfunded Liability | $28.8B | $2.0B* |
| Participants | 740,000 | 286,355 |
| 1-Year Investment Return | 6.0% | 6.9%* |
| Plan Type | public | corporate |
| PBGC Risk Level | moderate | low |
| Sponsor | State of Virginia | AT&T Inc. |
AT&T Pension Benefit Plan has a stronger Pension Health Score of 97/100 (A) compared to Virginia Retirement System (VRS) at 70/100 (B). Funding ratios differ by 18.6 percentage points (93.7% vs 75.1%). AT&T Pension Benefit Plan covers 286,355 participants.