The public pension plans with the most debt, best and worst investment return rates

Forty-four public pension systems in the United States had more than $10 billion in debt each at the end of their 2024 fiscal years, a new Reason Foundation report finds. The study also identifies the pension plans that produced the worst investment returns and those that saw their unfunded liabilities grow in a year with a very strong stock market.

Reason Foundation finds that 18 public pension plans now have over $20 billion in debt each, nine systems have more than $30 billion, and one, CalPERS, has over $100 billion in unfunded liabilities. At $166 billion in debt, the California Public Employees Retirement Fund, the largest public pension system in the country, had the most pension debt in the nation at the end of 2024, the most recent year with complete data available.

The next five public pension systems with the most unfunded liabilities are all teachers’ retirement plans: the Illinois Teachers Retirement System ($83 billion in unfunded liabilities), the Texas Teacher Retirement System ($63 billion), the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System ($43 billion), the New Jersey Teachers’ Pension and Annuity Fund ($41 billion), and the California State Teachers Retirement System ($40 billion).

The three other public pension systems with over $30 billion in unfunded liabilities are the Florida Retirement System ($39 billion), the New Jersey Public Employees Retirement System ($31 billion), and the Illinois State Employees Retirement System ($30 billion).

In the aggregate, the nation’s public pension systems reduced their unfunded liabilities from $1.62 trillion in 2023 to $1.48 trillion in 2024, a 9% decrease. But three public pension systems saw their debt grow by more than $1 billion in 2024. Unfunded liabilities grew by over $500 million in another five additional plans.

With a $1.54 billion increase in unfunded liabilities, the Maryland Teachers’ Retirement System saw the largest growth in public pension debt in the nation from 2023 to 2024. The system now has $14.56 billion in debt.

Unfunded liabilities also increased by over $1 billion in 2024 in the Massachusetts Teachers’ Retirement System ($1.17 billion increase in debt) and the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System ($1.01 billion).

From 2023 to 2024, public pension debt increased by over $500 billion in another five plans: the Maryland State Employees’ Retirement System ($735 million increase in unfunded liabilities), the Alameda County Employees’ Retirement Association ($678 million), the Illinois State University Retirement System ($628 million), the New Mexico Public Employees Retirement Association ($601 million), and the Indiana Public Employees Retirement Fund ($502 million).

The 2024 fiscal year was strong for most investors and the stock market, but some public pension plans lagged behind. Failing to meet investment expectations increases public pension debt and taxpayers’ costs. The median investment return for public retirement systems in 2024 was 9.88%, according to Reason Foundation’s Annual Pension Solvency and Performance Report.

The Fire Fighters’ Relief and Retirement Fund of Austin, Texas, earned just a 4.7% return in 2024. It was the only pension system in the nation that earned less than a 5% return in 2024. The fund’s debt increased from $297.5 million to $349.5 million in 2024.

Five other public pension plans failed earn a 6% returns in 2024: the Kansas City Public School Retirement System (5.2%), the Educational Employees’ Supplementary Retirement System of Fairfax County (5.68%), Oregon Public Employees Retirement System(5.8%), Omaha City Employees Retirement System (5.92%), and the South Dakota Retirement System (5.98%).

At the other end of the spectrum, Reason Foundation finds that 11 public pension plans earned investment returns of over 15% in 2024, and five plans produced returns exceeding 20%.


The Miami General Employees and Sanitation Employees Plan earned a 24% return rate in 2024, the highest in the nation.

The Michigan Legislative Retirement System (23.94% return), the Alabama Judicial Retirement Fund (22.21%), the Alabama Employees’ Retirement System (ERS) (21.2%), and the Alabama Teachers’ Retirement System (21.1%) also produced returns of over 20% for 2024.

For detailed information about public pension plans’ unfunded liabilities, asset allocation, contribution rates, stress testing, and more, please visit Reason Foundation’s full Annual Pension Solvency and Performance Report.

The report ranks public pension systems from best to worst across five core dimensions: funded status, investment performance, contribution rate adequacy, asset allocation risk, and probability of meeting assumed returns.

These values were extracted from publicly available audited financial reports. Despite a thorough review, data collection at this scale can lead to discrepancies. Please alert us if you identify any errors. Reason Foundation’s pension team provides tailored technical assistance and resources to address the specific needs of states, counties, and cities. So please don’t hesitate to contact us at pensionhelpdesk@reason.org.

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Source: https://reason.org/data-visualization/pension-plans-debt/