Become part of the movement for unbiased, accessible election information. Donate today.
Pew Charitable Trusts pensions study, 2017
This article is outside of Ballotpedia's coverage scope and does not receive scheduled updates. If you would like to help our coverage scope grow, consider donating to Ballotpedia.
 |
|
In 2017, the Pew Charitable Trusts, an independent research group, published a report on the financial health of public pension plans in the United States. According to Pew, “The nation's state-run retirement systems had a $934 billion gap in fiscal year 2015 between the pension benefits that governments have promised their workers and the funding available to meet those obligations.” The table below provides information about pension plan liabilities and debt, funded ratios, and net amortization. According to the Pew Charitable Trusts, "Net amortization measures whether total contributions to a public retirement system would have been sufficient to reduce unfunded liabilities if all expectations had been met for that year." This metric comprises two parts: an employer contribution benchmark, which is the amount the employer needed to contribute to the plan in a year in order to reduce pension debt, and the percentage of that amount that was actually paid. A positive net amortization percentage (i.e., one exceeding 100 percent) indicates that plans could expect to see a reduction in their debt.[1]
| Pension health metrics from the Pew Charitable Trusts report, fiscal years 2012-2015 (dollars in millions) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | 2015 | Funded ratio | Net amortization | ||||||
| Liability | Pension debt | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | Employer benchmark | Percent paid | ||
| Alabama | $48,599 | $16,036 | 66% | 66% | 70% | 67% | $1,394 | 105% | |
| Alaska | $20,808 | $6,773 | 55% | 52% | 60% | 67% | $720 | 423% | |
| Arizona | $65,738 | $24,168 | 72% | 72% | 64% | 63% | $1,900 | 86% | |
| Arkansas | $29,827 | $5,246 | 71% | 74% | 86% | 82% | $636 | 117% | |
| California | $669,956 | $174,122 | 77% | 72% | 76% | 74% | $18,943 | 79% | |
| Colorado | $70,583 | $27,924 | 63% | 61% | 64% | 60% | $2,104 | 65% | |
| Connecticut | $54,636 | $27,660 | 49% | 48% | 51% | 49% | $2,444 | 101% | |
| Delaware | $10,342 | $1,108 | 88% | 88% | 92% | 89% | $201 | 136% | |
| Florida | $171,620 | $23,115 | 82% | 81% | 91% | 87% | $2,475 | 118% | |
| Georgia | $102,015 | $19,517 | 81% | 79% | 83% | 81% | $2,084 | 100% | |
| Hawaii | $23,238 | $8,733 | 59% | 60% | 64% | 62% | $1,061 | 92% | |
| Idaho | $15,669 | $1,283 | 85% | 86% | 95% | 92% | $219 | 159% | |
| Illinois | $199,090 | $119,072 | 40% | 39% | 41% | 40% | $10,125 | 72% | |
| Indiana | $46,839 | $16,571 | 61% | 65% | 69% | 65% | $1,232 | 150% | |
| Iowa | $34,091 | $5,087 | 80% | 81% | 87% | 85% | $638 | 114% | |
| Kansas | $25,614 | $8,979 | 56% | 60% | 67% | 65% | $838 | 86% | |
| Kentucky | $56,913 | $35,412 | 47% | 44% | 41% | 38% | $2,631 | 46% | |
| Louisiana | $50,259 | $18,440 | 56% | 58% | 65% | 63% | $1,545 | 143% | |
| Maine | $15,404 | $2,692 | 79% | 80% | 86% | 83% | $254 | 149% | |
| Maryland | $67,480 | $21,452 | 64% | 65% | 71% | 68% | $1,957 | 101% | |
| Massachusetts | $84,575 | $32,118 | 61% | 61% | 67% | 62% | $2,269 | 98% | |
| Michigan | $85,939 | $31,201 | 61% | 60% | 67% | 64% | $2,561 | 113% | |
| Minnesota | $75,522 | $15,265 | 75% | 75% | 82% | 80% | $1,355 | 91% | |
| Mississippi | $40,864 | $15,617 | 58% | 58% | 67% | 62% | $1,079 | 97% | |
| Missouri | $64,813 | $12,032 | 78% | 77% | 85% | 81% | $1,124 | 132% | |
| Montana | $13,562 | $3,456 | 64% | 73% | 76% | 75% | $305 | 110% | |
| Nebraska | $13,031 | $1,130 | 79% | 80% | 93% | 91% | $148 | 197% | |
| Nevada | $46,195 | $11,481 | 71% | 69% | 76% | 75% | $1,698 | 88% | |
| New Hampshire | $11,471 | $3,962 | 56% | 57% | 66% | 65% | $323 | 107% | |
| New Jersey | $217,055 | $135,701 | 65% | 63% | 42% | 37% | $8,519 | 32% | |
| New Mexico | $36,736 | $10,799 | 63% | 67% | 74% | 71% | $869 | 86% | |
| New York | $193,066 | $3,654 | 87% | 89% | N/A | 98% | $3,690 | 163% | |
| North Carolina | $93,393 | $4,228 | 95% | 96% | 99% | 95% | $1,037 | 171% | |
| North Dakota | $6,646 | $1,969 | 63% | 61% | 73% | 70% | $150 | 111% | |
| Ohio | $191,958 | $45,316 | 67% | 74% | 80% | 76% | $3,097 | 107% | |
| Oklahoma | $36,539 | $7,609 | 65% | 67% | 81% | 79% | $813 | 162% | |
| Oregon | $70,665 | $5,742 | 91% | 96% | 104% | 92% | $771 | 151% | |
| Pennsylvania | $139,140 | $61,499 | 64% | 62% | 60% | 56% | $5,561 | 74% | |
| Rhode Island | $11,106 | $4,767 | 58% | 58% | 61% | 57% | $386 | 102% | |
| South Carolina | $50,658 | $21,352 | 65% | 63% | 61% | 58% | $1,498 | 84% | |
| South Dakota | $10,352 | -$424 | 93% | 100% | 107% | 104% | $013 | 870% | |
| Tennessee | $45,338 | $2,077 | 92% | 94% | 99% | 95% | $571 | 184% | |
| Texas | $203,472 | $49,638 | 82% | 80% | 79% | 76% | $5,419 | 67% | |
| Utah | $31,150 | $4,463 | 76% | 80% | 88% | 86% | $784 | 139% | |
| Vermont | $5,623 | $1,809 | 70% | 69% | 75% | 68% | $123 | 121% | |
| Virginia | $88,985 | $22,579 | 65% | 66% | 75% | 75% | $2,469 | 101% | |
| Washington | $85,810 | $11,105 | 95% | 88% | 90% | 87% | $1,625 | 108% | |
| West Virginia | $17,634 | $4,068 | 63% | 67% | 78% | 77% | $416 | 164% | |
| Wisconsin | $90,000 | $1,495 | 100% | 100% | 103% | 98% | $643 | 157% | |
| Wyoming | $10,147 | $2,731 | 80% | 79% | 79% | 73% | $229 | 76% | |
| Totals in the U.S. | $3,850,168 | $1,091,828 | 72% | 72% | 75% | 72% | $102,949 | 92% | |
| Source: The Pew Charitable Trusts, "The State Pension Funding Gap: 2015," accessed August 21, 2017 | |||||||||
See also
- Hoover Institution pensions study, 2017
- Pew Charitable Trusts pensions study, 2016
- Pew Charitable Trusts
- Public pensions
- Public pension health by state
- Glossary of pension terms
External links
Footnotes
