The Retirement Security Report Teacher Edition analyzes the state of teacher retirement benefits in the United States. While the omnibus report highlights some of the best and worst performing plans using Equable’s Retirement Benefits Score methodology, readers may be interested in diving deeper in accessing the full set of scores to determine how specific states and plan types stack up for America’s teachers.

The searchable and sortable table provides the Retirement Benefits Scores for each of 316 retirement plans offered to teachers and non-instructional staff by worker tenure that are included in the report. Detailed teacher retirement plan scores for each plan can also be accessed in our interactive tool here.

 

Retirement Security Report Teacher Plan Retirement Benefit Scores

wdt_ID State Plan Name Class Name Plan Type Social Security Enrollment Status: Legacy Plan or Open to New Hires Overall Retirement Benefits Score Short-Term Teacher Score Medium-Term Worker Score Full Career Teacher Score
1 Alabama Alabama Teachers' Retirement System AL TRS Tier 1 traditional pension plan required Legacy Plan 53.2% 33.0% 51.3% 75.2%
2 Alabama Alabama Teachers' Retirement System AL TRS Tier 2 traditional pension plan required Open to New Hires 49.1% 32.8% 41.1% 73.4%
3 Alaska Alaska Teachers’ Retirement System - Defined Contribution Retirement Plan AK TRS DC defined contribution plan not available Open to New Hires 70.3% 55.7% 59.7% 95.5%
4 Alaska Alaska Public Employees' Retirement System - Defined Benefit Plan Noncertificated School District Employees Tier 2 AK PERS Noncertificated School District Employees Tier 2 traditional pension plan not available Legacy Plan 56.5% 43.8% 55.9% 69.8%
5 Alaska Alaska Public Employees' Retirement System - Defined Benefit Plan Noncertificated School District Employees Tier 3 AK PERS Noncertificated School District Employees Tier 3 traditional pension plan not available Legacy Plan 56.5% 43.8% 55.9% 69.8%
6 Alaska Alaska Public Employees' Retirement System - Defined Benefit Plan Noncertificated School District Employees Tier 1 AK PERS Noncertificated School District Employees Tier 1 traditional pension plan not available Legacy Plan 53.6% 44.5% 56.8% 59.6%
7 Alaska Alaska Teachers’ Retirement System - Defined Benefit Plan AK TRS DB Tier 2 traditional pension plan not available Legacy Plan 52.1% 35.3% 58.4% 62.6%
8 Alaska Alaska Teachers’ Retirement System - Defined Benefit Plan AK TRS DB Tier 1 traditional pension plan not available Legacy Plan 51.9% 35.6% 56.2% 63.9%
9 Arizona Arizona State Retirement System AZ SRS Teachers Post-2013 traditional pension plan required Open to New Hires 59.8% 45.1% 47.7% 86.7%
10 Arizona Arizona State Retirement System AZ SRS Teachers Pre-2013 traditional pension plan required Legacy Plan 59.6% 44.6% 47.6% 86.7%
State Plan Name Class Name Plan Type Social Security Enrollment Status: Legacy Plan or Open to New Hires Overall Retirement Benefits Score Short-Term Teacher Score Medium-Term Worker Score Full Career Teacher Score
About the Retirement Security Report 
The RSR is a universe of in-depth research, interactive tools, policy scores and other resources to shed light on the quality and value of retirement benefits for all public workers. All RSR projects are based on data from our comprehensive benefit database of retirement plans offered to public workers and use an open-source scoring methodology that accounts for three primary criteria: Eligibility, Income Adequacy (based on a 70% pre-retirement income replacement rate), and Flexibility & Mobility.