Municipal Pension Plans

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29 municipal plans · Avg funded ratio: 79.0%

What the Data Says About Municipal Pension Plans

The Public Plans Database (PPD), maintained by the Boston College Center for Retirement Research, tracks 29 Municipal pension plans across the United States, covering a broad range of state and local retirement systems that share the municipal occupational category. These plans report a weighted average funded ratio of 79.0%, based on each plan's most recent CAFR and actuarial valuation. Individual plan health varies widely within this category, from plans graded A for strong funding discipline to plans graded F that face severe structural shortfalls requiring legislative intervention.

The 79.0% category average for Municipal plans falls near the national public-pension average of 75.5%, indicating moderate funding gaps that vary significantly by state and sponsoring entity. Each plan's trajectory depends on contribution adequacy (whether employers pay the full Annual Required Contribution), investment returns relative to the assumed rate, and demographic trends such as the ratio of active contributors to retirees drawing benefits.

Public pension plans, including these municipal systems, differ from private-sector pensions governed by ERISA and backstopped by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). Public plans rely on the full faith and credit of the sponsoring state or local government, meaning funding shortfalls are resolved through state and local budget decisions rather than federal insurance. This information summarizes official Public Plans Database disclosures and is provided for research and educational purposes only. It is not financial, legal, or retirement-planning advice; active and retired members with specific benefit questions should consult their plan administrator.

Plan Funded Ratio Grade
Municipal Employees' Retirement System of Michigan 103.4% B
Sacramento County ERS 101.7% B
Fairfax County Employees' Retirement System 97.6% B
Chicago Municipal Employees 97.3% B
San Diego County Employees Retirement Association 94.3% B
Kern County Employees Retirement Association 93.5% B
Houston Municipal 89.4% B
Fairfax County Uniformed 86.6% B
Montgomery County Employees Retirement System 83.9% B
San Francisco City and County Retirement System 82.9% B
Alameda County Employee's Retirement Association 81.8% B
Philadelphia Municipal Retirement System 78.5% C
Oklahoma Municipal Employees 75.5% B
Texas County & District Retirement System 75.1% C
Milwaukee County Employees Retirement System 74.3% C
Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association 73.4% C
Pennsylvania Municipal Retirement System 73.0% C
Connecticut Municipal 70.8% C
Jersey City Municipal Employees Pension Fund 70.7% C
Pittsburgh Municipal 68.7% C
Hartford Municipal Employee Retirement Fund 65.9% C
Texas Municipal Retirement System 63.7% C
Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund 62.2% C
Louisiana Municipal Employees 58.4% D
Contra Costa County Employees' Retirement Association 52.0% D
Orange County ERS N/A F
Cook County Employees N/A F
New Castle County Pension Program N/A F
Vermont Municipal Employees N/A F

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

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Data sourced from official Public Plans Database and actuarial valuations from federal and state pension systems. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainPension

Every figure on PlainPension is rendered directly from the Public Plans Database (Boston College Center for Retirement Research), no number is typed in by an editor. This page aggregates every tracked plan of this type, live from the dataset. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.