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PensionWatch

California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS)

public plan · State of California · Sacramento, CA

ACTIVE
C
Pension Health Score
58/100
Funding Status67% Funded
0%80% threshold100%
$473.0B
Total Assets
$703.0B
Total Liabilities
$230.0B
Unfunded Liability
2,050,000
Participants

Funding History

What This Means for You

California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) is 67% funded, which is below the 80% threshold that actuaries consider healthy. The plan has $230.0B in unfunded liabilities that must be addressed through increased contributions, investment returns, or benefit adjustments. Current participants should monitor this plan and consider supplemental retirement savings.

Year-by-Year Funding

YearAssetsLiabilitiesFunding RatioContributions
2023$473.0B$703.0B67.3%$28.8B
2022$458.8B$705.9B65.0%$27.9B
2021$444.6B$617.5B72.0%$27.1B
2020$430.4B$633.0B68.0%$26.2B
2019$416.2B$594.6B70.0%$25.3B

Frequently Asked Questions

California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) is 67% funded, meaning it has 67 cents in assets for every dollar in future benefit obligations. This is below the 80% threshold actuaries consider healthy, and may require increased contributions.

California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) has 2,050,000 total participants, including 1,050,000 active employees and 1,000,000 retirees currently receiving benefits.

California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) 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.

Last updated:

Pension Health Score is calculated from funding ratio, 3-year funding trend, and PBGC risk classification.