Skip to main content
PensionWatch

North Carolina Retirement Systems

public plan · State of North Carolina · Raleigh, NC

ACTIVE
B
Pension Health Score
77/100
Funding Status85% Funded
0%80% threshold100%
$101.3B
Total Assets
$118.9B
Total Liabilities
$17.7B
Unfunded Liability
933,366
Participants

Funding History

What This Means for You

North Carolina Retirement Systems is in good financial health at 85% funded. This means for every dollar the plan owes in future benefits, it has 85 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

YearAssetsLiabilitiesFunding RatioContributions
2025$101.3B$118.9B85.1%$3.3B
2024$100.6B$117.7B85.5%$3.6B
2023$94.0B$105.3B89.2%$2.9B
2022$88.4B$98.2B90.0%$2.6B
2021$87.4B$102.3B85.5%$3.6B

Frequently Asked Questions

North Carolina Retirement Systems is 85% funded, meaning it has 85 cents in assets for every dollar in future benefit obligations. This is considered healthy by actuarial standards.

North Carolina Retirement Systems has 933,366 total participants, including 573,285 active employees and 360,081 retirees currently receiving benefits.

North Carolina Retirement Systems 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.