Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS)
public plan · State of Arizona · Phoenix, AZ
At 72% funded, Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS) is in the underfunded bracket. The gap to full funding is $17.6B, an amount that takes years of disciplined contributions to close even with cooperative market returns.
State of Arizona runs Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS) as a public-sector defined-benefit plan. The plan operates outside the ERISA framework; oversight comes from state pension boards and the sponsor's legislative body rather than the federal Department of Labor or PBGC. The plan remains active — accruing new benefits for current employees and accepting new participants. Among private-sector single-employer plans, the active status is increasingly rare as employers freeze accruals while continuing to fund existing obligations; public-sector plans are more often still actively accruing.
Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS) is a large pension plan with $46.0B in assets and 588,000 participants (300,000 active, 288,000 retired). Large plans usually have professional investment management and complex actuarial structures. The participant mix runs roughly even between 300,000 active workers and 288,000 retirees — a balanced demographic profile that gives the plan time to compound investment returns before payouts dominate cash flow. Annual cash flows: $3.5B in sponsor contributions versus $4.0B in benefit payments. Investment performance over the most recent year ran 5.8%, against the plan's assumed long-term return of 7.0%.
PBGC risk classification: moderate. The plan's funded status puts it under enhanced monitoring but not active intervention. Public plans like Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS) are not PBGC-insured. The benefit guarantee rests on the sponsoring government's ability and willingness to make required contributions, which interacts with state and local tax-base dynamics.
Source: DOL EFAST2 Form 5500 filings and Boston College CRR Public Plans Database.
Funding History
What This Means for You
Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS) is in good financial health at 72% funded. This means for every dollar the plan owes in future benefits, it has 72 cents in assets to cover it. As a public pension, benefits are typically backed by the taxing authority of the sponsoring government. Participants in this plan have relatively low risk of benefit reductions.
Year-by-Year Funding
| Year | Assets | Liabilities | Funding Ratio | Contributions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | $46.0B | $63.6B | 72.3% | $3.5B |
| 2022 | $44.6B | $62.8B | 71.0% | $3.4B |
| 2021 | $43.2B | $58.4B | 74.0% | $3.3B |
| 2020 | $41.9B | $61.6B | 68.0% | $3.2B |
| 2019 | $40.5B | $57.8B | 70.0% | $3.1B |
Frequently Asked Questions
Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS) is 72% funded, meaning it has 72 cents in assets for every dollar in future benefit obligations. This is below the 80% threshold actuaries consider healthy, and may require increased contributions.
Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS) has 588,000 total participants, including 300,000 active employees and 288,000 retirees currently receiving benefits.
Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS) is not covered by the PBGC. Benefits depend entirely on the plan's assets and the sponsor's ability to fund it.
The Pension Health Score (0-100, A-F) measures a pension plan's financial strength based on funding ratio (50%), funding trend over 3 years (30%), and PBGC risk level (20%). Higher scores indicate more secure retirement benefits.
Pension Health Score is calculated from funding ratio, 3-year funding trend, and PBGC risk classification.