Data & Glossary

Our dataset comprises 296 public pension plans, of which 192 are state-administered, and 104 are local. Collectively, these plans manage 88% of the total estimated assets within U.S public pensions.

This dataset is a unique and original contribution to the field. While not every data point has been individually confirmed due to the dataset’s scope, we have aimed to ensure the values are as reliable as possible by cross-referencing available ACFR and Valuation reports. This report is an ongoing effort, and we welcome any feedback. If you notice any discrepancies, please reach out to pensionhelpdesk@reason.org so we can address and update the data accordingly.

We have taken the numbers as declared and started by first compiling, analyzing, slashing, and contextualizing measures of pension funding and debt (Funding Health). We then analyze the various liability discount rates (Discount Rates) and their implications. Following, we dive deeper into the drivers and implications of past investment performance of public pension funds (Investment Performance) and its asset allocation (Asset Allocation). Finally, we analyze employer contributions to these funds (Employer Contributions) and the cash flows of these pension systems (Cash Flow).

2024 Numbers

Not all plans have filled their valuation reports as of the publishing of this annual report. For fiscal year 2024, some of the values are estimates based on synthetic portfolios that mirror the risk and return characteristics of the plans' actual asset allocations alongside historical investment performance data.

Financial Reports

This Reason Foundation data visualization project aggregates and displays financial information extracted from hundreds of audited government financial statements covering Fiscal Years 2020 through 2022, and it represents the first project of its kind to systematically compile data from the audited annual comprehensive financial reports (ACFRs) of state and local governments across the United States into a single database, as well as Valuation Reports of a multitude of pension plan systems.

Although these are public documents, there is currently no requirement for these reports to be published in a machine-readable format. Without machine-readable formatting, the extraction and compilation of state and local governments’ financial data becomes a laborious project. This barrier impedes bondholders, financial analysts, taxpayers, and citizens from conducting cross-jurisdictional analyses to evaluate how one government entity is performing in relation to others.

The financial and accounting data compiled herein underwent a rigorous validation process with multiple checkpoints, enabling us to accurately distill and compile this data into a series of charts and graphics comparing the performance of one jurisdiction against others. The data collected does not include every element of the financial statements, but captures key values from the government-wide Statements of Activities and Net Position as well as certain calculated ratios intended to aid users in financial statement analysis.

Investment Performance by Fiscal Year-End Month

A known limitation of comparing pension investment returns is accounting for the time period covered by the investment returns declared. When plans file their report and declare investment outcomes, it doesn’t necessarily cover the same investment period, with some states determining differences in fiscal year-end. The distribution below shows that most plans concentrate around June and December, with a small number of plans ending their fiscal years in March, April, August, and September. This can impact the validity of apples-to-apples comparison between year-over-year investment returns from plan to plan. Averages over a certain amount of years should eliminate these disparities.

Glossary

The funded ratio indicates the percentage of accrued benefits a pension fund owes that could be covered by current assets. Unfunded liabilities (UAAL)/Actuarial Accrued Liability (AAL), or the amount by which promised retirement benefits exceed a plan's assets, are also referred to as unfunded actuarial accrued liabilities (UAAL) or net pension liability (NPL). These liabilities are quantified as the difference between the actuarially accrued liabilities (the present value of all promised retirement benefits) and the plan's assets, whether measured by MVA or the smoothed AVA, aligning with industry standards. For additional glossary terms see.