Updated May 2026 · Public Plans Database
Public Pension Plans
Government-sponsored retirement plans for state, local, and federal employees including teachers, police, and firefighters.
107 public pension systems tracked, covering 27,435,000 active and retired participants with an average funding ratio of 69.1%. Public plans cover teachers, police, firefighters, state agency employees, and municipal workers — typically the largest single employee groups in any state.
Public-sector pension plans cover state and local government employees. 107 public plans appear in the dataset, all operating under state-level oversight (rather than ERISA) and without PBGC coverage. State legislatures set the contribution and benefit terms.
Plan type shapes nearly every aspect of how a pension is regulated, funded, and ultimately backed in distress scenarios. Reading the LakeQuality pension-health grade alongside plan type tells a fuller story than the grade alone.
How Public Pension Plans Are Regulated
Public pension plans are regulated under state law and reported under Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statements 67 and 68. They are not subject to ERISA or PBGC insurance — accrued benefits rely instead on state constitutional or statutory clauses and the sponsor's taxing authority. Funding ratios for public plans typically use a 6.5%–7.5% discount rate set by each system's board.
The funding-ratio numbers on this page come from the Boston College Center for Retirement Research Public Plans Database, which compiles annual valuation reports from each state and municipal system's ACFR. PPD is the standard academic compilation for cross-state public-pension comparisons.
82 of 107 public pension plans (77%) report below the 80% actuarial benchmark, with a combined unfunded liability of $1688.9B across the underfunded plans. Funding ratios in this segment shift each valuation cycle as discount rates, asset returns, and contribution policy change — none of these figures are projections.
Plans by Funding Ratio
How Health Scores Are Calculated
The Pension Health Score combines funding ratio (50% of the composite), 3-year funding trend (30%), and PBGC risk level (20%) into a 0–100 index with an A–F letter grade. Public plans use a low PBGC-risk default since they are not subject to PBGC insurance; corporate and multiemployer scoring incorporates the PBGC at-risk and Critical-status designations directly. Read the full methodology.
Browse by State
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a public pension pension plan?
Government-sponsored retirement plans for state, local, and federal employees including teachers, police, and firefighters. Public pension plans are regulated under state law and reported under Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statements 67 and 68. They are not subject to ERISA or PBGC insurance — accrued benefits rely instead on state constitutional or statutory clauses and the sponsor's taxing authority. Funding ratios for public plans typically use a 6.5%–7.5% discount rate set by each system's board.
How many public pension plans are there?
PensionRisk tracks 107 public pension plans covering 27,435,000 active and retired participants. Of those, 82 (77%) report below the 80% actuarial benchmark.
What is the average funding ratio for public pension plans?
The average funding ratio across the tracked public pension plans is 69.1%. Aggregate unfunded liability across plans below 100% funded totals $1688.9B. Plans above 80% are generally considered healthy by actuarial standards; plans below 60% are considered critically underfunded.
Are public pension plans insured by PBGC?
No. Public pension plans are not subject to ERISA and are not PBGC-insured. Accrued benefits are protected through state constitutional clauses, statutory protections, and the sponsor's taxing authority. Most state supreme courts have held public pension benefits to be contractually protected once accrued.
Where does this data come from?
Public plan figures come from the Boston College Center for Retirement Research Public Plans Database, which compiles annual valuation reports from state and municipal pension systems. The current dataset reflects valuations available as of May 2026.
107 public pension systems tracked, covering 27,435,000 active and retired participants with an average funding ratio of 69.1%. Public plans cover teachers, police, firefighters, state agency employees, and municipal workers — typically the largest single employee groups in any state.