San Diego City Employees Retirement System (SDCERS)

San Diego City Employees Retirement System (SDCERS) is underfunded: 73% funding ratio, with $3.7B in unfunded actuarial liability against $10.2B in plan assets. Plans below 75% funded face heightened regulatory scrutiny and usually require higher sponsor contributions or benefit adjustments to recover.

San Diego City Employees Retirement System (SDCERS) is a government pension plan administered by City of San Diego. Unlike private corporate plans, the benefit guarantee flows from the sponsoring government's ongoing tax authority and contribution obligations rather than from federal insurance. 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.

On scale: $10.2B in plan assets across 20,500 covered participants. With 10,000 workers still accruing and 10,500 drawing benefits, the plan has the size to support institutional asset management and full-time actuarial staff. Active and retired participants are roughly balanced (10,000 active, 10,500 retired). The plan is in a steady-state cash-flow phase where new accruals offset benefit payments. Annual cash flows: $520M in sponsor contributions versus $680M in benefit payments. Investment performance over the most recent year ran 5.3%, against the plan's assumed long-term return of 6.8%.

PBGC risk classification: moderate. The plan's funded status puts it under enhanced monitoring but not active intervention. Public plans like San Diego City Employees Retirement System (SDCERS) 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.