Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS)
public plan · State of Texas · Austin, TX
Funding History
What This Means for You
Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS) is in good financial health at 70% funded. This means for every dollar the plan owes in future benefits, it has 70 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 | $31.5B | $44.9B | 70.1% | $2.2B |
| 2022 | $30.6B | $44.3B | 69.0% | $2.1B |
| 2021 | $29.6B | $41.1B | 72.0% | $2.1B |
| 2020 | $28.7B | $43.4B | 66.0% | $2.0B |
| 2019 | $27.7B | $40.8B | 68.0% | $1.9B |
Frequently Asked Questions
Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS) is 70% funded, meaning it has 70 cents in assets for every dollar in future benefit obligations. This is below the 80% threshold actuaries consider healthy, and may require increased contributions.
Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS) has 327,000 total participants, including 165,000 active employees and 162,000 retirees currently receiving benefits.
Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS) 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.