We’re committed to helping solve sustainability challenges in public sector retirement plans.
Equable Highlight
The Retirement Security Report: An interactive index of the quality of public retirement plan benefits
The Retirement Security Report is an interactive, digital evaluation of the quality of retirement benefits offered to public workers nationwide using customizable score cards for all 335 statewide retirement plans currently open to new hires. The RSR is focused on determining whether individual plans are providing public workers with a path to retirement income security, showing how well plans work depending on career tenure and age.
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Based on funded ratio, Tennessee, Washington, Utah, South Dakota, and Washington, D.C. have the best funded…
Equable Perspectives
July 18, 2023
Emerging Threats to America’s Public Pensions: Valuation Risk, Market Uncertainty, and Politics
In 2023 and beyond, public pensions in the United States are entering an era of new threats and more…
Could a U.S. Debt Default Be a Good Thing For Public Pensions? Currently, there’s no clear end in sight…
First Republic Bank was seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) on May 1st 2023 and sold…
Media Resources
April 21, 2023
ISSUE BRIEF | The Impact of the Silicon Valley Bank Collapse on Public Pension Funds
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Article
April 20, 2023
Pot for Pensions? How Legal Cannabis Could Create a Brighter Future for Public Pension Funds
There are 19 states that have legal retail markets for recreational cannabis as of the spring of 2023, and…
There are at least two dozen state and local pension funds with direct exposure to the failure of Silicon…
Press Releases
March 1, 2023
Teacher Pension Costs Have Tripled as a Share of State and Local K–12 Education Spending Since 2001
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Article
March 1, 2023
Hidden Education Funding Cuts: How Growing Teacher Pension Debt Stresses America’s K–12 Education Budgets
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Press Releases
February 1, 2023
Report Finds K-12 Pension Debt Costs Threaten Education Equity in Ohio
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Press Releases
January 31, 2023
Report Finds K-12 Pension Debt Costs Threaten Education Equity in California
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Press Releases
January 31, 2023
Report Finds K-12 Pension Debt Costs Threaten Education Equity in Florida
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Press Releases
January 31, 2023
Report Finds K-12 Pension Debt Costs Threaten Education Equity in Texas
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Research & Reports
January 31, 2023
Pension Debt Challenges for Equity in Education: California, Texas, Florida, and Ohio
Today, Equable Institute and Opportunity Institute have released new research exploring the effect of teacher…
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Today, Equable Institute released a year end update to its State of Pensions 2022 report. The analysis finds…
U.S. public pension plan funded ratios at the end of 2022 reflect a challenging year. The 2022 calendar year…
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What do Tom Brady, Shaquille O’Neal, and at least 15 state or local pension funds have in common? They…
Public pension contribution rates have increased considerably over the last few decades. Some governments…
The average assumed rate of return for state pension plans in the United States is 6.9%, as of September…
The news headlines for private equity have not been great over the past several months. The private capital…
A key feature of defined benefit pension plans is that they offer guaranteed income for life. But unless the…
A key feature of teacher pension plans is that they offer guaranteed income for life. But unless the…
Is there a state pension crisis in the United States? The short answer is no. Despite headlines claiming that…
California state and local government agencies offer a range of different defined benefit pension…
Teacher retirement systems in 2022 are Fragile. There are 63 retirement systems offering benefits to…
Based on funded ratio, Wisconsin, Washington, and South Dakota have the best funded public pension plans in…
Today, Equable Institute issued its annual report on public pension trends in the U.S., State of Pensions…
Press Releases
June 29, 2022
South Carolina and Tennessee are the Best States for New Teacher Retirement Benefits
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There are lots of factors that new, prospective K–12 teachers have to consider when entering the education…
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The Retirement Security Report Teacher Edition analyzes the state of teacher retirement benefits in the…
Depending on the state you live in, school districts themselves may not actually be paying for the costs of…
Kentucky has made changes to retirement plan provisions for its Teachers’ Retirement System (KTRS), as…
Texas has made changes to retirement plan provisions for its Employees Retirement System (TXERS), as…
Alabama has made changes to retirement plan provisions for its Teachers’ Retirement System (ALTRS), as…
Press Releases
April 25, 2022
Equable Institute Issues Retirement Security Policy Scores for Oklahoma House Bill 2486 as Passed in the House and Amended in the Senate
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Understanding the legal environment for pension policies can be confusing for both lawmakers and public…
Alabama teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are…
Arizona teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are…
Arkansas teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are…
Delaware teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are…
Idaho teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are entitled…
Iowa teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are entitled…
Maryland teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are…
Massachusetts teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are…
Nevada teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are…
North Carolina teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are…
Oklahoma teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are…
Virginia teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are…
West Virginia teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are…
Wisconsin teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are…
State of Pensions 2021 report is an annual report on the status of statewide public pension systems, put into…
There are over 340 sets of benefit provisions available to new hires in the public sector, as of August 2021…
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System recently announced good news—it is lowering their…
Dear Public Retirement System Trustees, Chief Officers, and Executive Directors, A few years ago I was…
When analyzing the scores for the Retirement Security Report, we noticed an anomaly in the results that at…
The Retirement Security Report is an interactive, digital evaluation of the quality of retirement benefits…
Oregon teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are…
Georgia teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are…
Louisiana teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are…
South Carolina teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are…
New Hampshire teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are…
Montana teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are…
New Jersey teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are…
Illinois’ teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits…
Ohio teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are entitled…
New Mexico teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are…
Mississippi teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are…
Connecticut teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are…
Vermont teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are…
California teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are…
North Dakota teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are…
Hawaii teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are…
Texas teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are entitled…
Florida teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are…
Minnesota teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are…
Missouri teachers’, public safety officers’, and public workers’ pension benefits are…
The North Carolina state Legislature is considering a 2% increase in cost-of-living-adjustments, or COLA, for…
In 2011, Florida’s legislative leaders thought Senate Bill 2100 would fix Florida Retirement…
North Carolina should put aside at least $100 million per year to ensure the long-term sustainability of its…
Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar says the time for action to fix Texas TRS on the state’s Employee…
Equable Perspectives
August 18, 2020
State of Pensions 2020: Great Recession Lessons Learned for Public Pensions in the Age of COVID-19
There are many unknowns in the Age of COVID-19, but fortunately when it comes to forecasting what is likely…
Resources
August 18, 2020
State of Pensions 2020 Explained: Unfunded Liabilities as a Share of State Economic Output
A common metric for measuring the fiscal health of a pension plan is the . But on its own this metric…
Research & Reports
May 22, 2020
Could States Save Money if Raises During a Recession Were Designated as Non-Pensionable?
Pension funds lose assets in a market downturn[1] Due to the nature of defined benefit plans, the system…
The aggregate funding ratio for U.S. state pension plans decreased by 12.2 percentage points to 62.6% during…
The City’s Annual Required Contributions to its two pension funds have increased 56% ($475 million) since…
New Jersey is highly likely to reduce or delay its public pension contributions because of the coronavirus,…
Before the coronavirus pandemic, state public pension debt was already over $1 trillion nationally and…
Don Boyd, co-director of the State and Local Government Finance Project at the Center for Policy Research at…
New Jersey’s murky financial outlook did not get any clearer when the State Treasury released its monthly…
Given the sophistication of finance in the 21st century, it is reasonable to think that America has a good…
The first quarter of 2020 was overrun by the economic impact of COVID-19. Right off the heels of a Q4 2019…
New York University (NYU) has issued a report saying the New York City Teachers’ Retirement System’s…
News
April 20, 2020
South Dakota Retirement System Trustees Considering Eliminating COLA, Among Other Changes
Significant revisions could be coming to keep solvent South Dakota’s public pension system that covers…
Equable’s report on Hidden Education Funding Cuts covers a lot of public policy topics, including public…
Riverside County could issue almost $730 million in bonds to whittle down its $3.5 billion pension debt, a…
A plan that would increase contributions from public workers and the state to the Public Employees Retirement…
Article
February 25, 2020
Sweeney to Back Murphy Millionaires Tax in Exchange for Increased Public Worker Pension Funding
After two years of opposition, New Jersey’s most powerful state lawmaker will consider working with Gov.…
During last year’s legislative session, Georgia’s House Retirement Committee requested cost estimates of…
Article
February 19, 2020
Proposal to Increase State Employee Contributions to Pension Fund Raises Alarm
Every day during the legislative session, Gov. Mark Gordon has held a conference call with each member of his…
More than one in every five MBTA pensioners retired before age 50 as the state increasingly has to pick up…
The board of trustees of the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System approved a slight but expected increase in…
The California Supreme Court will soon schedule oral argument in controversial cases involving legislative…
Legislators advanced a proposal to reform New Mexico’s public pension plan for state and local government…
Cities across California are beginning to draft their fiscal blueprints for the next year — and for…
Case Study
January 31, 2020
Calm Amid the Chaos: Wisconsin’s Pension System and the 2008 Financial Crisis
Download The Case Study | Calm Amid the Chaos: Wisconsin’s Pension System and the 2008 Financial Crisis…
Later this year, New Jersey will begin a planned lowering of the public-employee pension system’s assumed…
When Gov. Charlie Baker lifts the curtain on his fiscal 2021 budget this week, many Beacon Hill observers are…
Trustees of the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System on Friday decided to retain the current 7.75%…
Research & Reports
January 17, 2020
The Texas Pension Review Board Provides A Model for Nationwide Reform
Texas provides an example of how to exercise oversight of, and check poor decision making by, public pension…
The Arizona Chamber Foundation (ACF), a research group, decries the Arizona State Retirement System’s…
Investment returns make up more than 60 percent of the revenues that public pension plans need to ensure…
Pennsylvania’s school districts can expect to pony up more money to cover for their pension costs next…
While contributions to state and local pension plans are growing steadily, there remains considerable…
Research & Reports
November 13, 2019
Leaders Ignored Teacher Pension Debt. Now There’s Less Money for Teacher Salaries and Students.
Bring up the issue of teacher pension debt and most educators quickly lose interest. That’s a mistake, as…
The Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS) is funded using contributions from the state budget, local…
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is grappling to find ways to combat rising pension costs, and close the city’s…
Most state pension funds are not at risk of running out of money in the next few decades, which is a good…
The Center for State & Local Government Excellence, together with the Center for Retirement Research at…
Article
October 24, 2019
Effects Of The Next Recession Partly Mitigated by U.S. State Pension Reforms
S&P recently released a report that suggests that U.S. state pension reforms may mitigate the effects of…
After years of wrangling with its creditors, Puerto Rico disclosed a plan Friday for resolving the biggest…
In a 3-3 vote, the state Pension Funding Council rejected a motion at a Sept. 30 meeting to lower the assumed…
At the turn of the millennium, public pensions seemed to be riding high. By their own accounting, most such…
When public pension systems were created in the 1950s and 1960s, these plans were generally small and they…
By offering lifetime retirement benefits based on service years and final average salaries, defined benefit…
Fed up with stagnant salaries, teachers have gone on strike all across the country over the past few years.…
The nation’s public retirement systems have emerged from a decade of unprecedented changes to benefit…
How do retirement plans affect teacher recruitment and retention? What happens to the teacher workforce when…
The pension system for state workers in New Jersey is so underfunded that it could run out of money in 12…
As more baby boomers reach their 60s and late 50s, many state and local governments risk a mass exodus of…
Download The Report | The Contribution Rate Keeps on Growing: Why Persistent Pension Debt Has Created…
One of the first states to attempt improving the sustainability of its teacher pension plans was West…
U.S. infrastructure is in dire need of an overhaul; the American Society of Civil Engineers estimates a…
American state and local pensions have less than 73% of the assets they need to fund future obligations to…
Teaching in Michigan is about to become a lot more attractive. Recently enacted legislation will improve…
S&P Global Rating’s analyzes state and local pension plans from the perspective municipal bond holders,…
The healthiest year on record for U.S. pension funds was 2001, when collectively the major retirement systems…
In 2016, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signed comprehensive pension reform legislation for public safety…
When it comes to funding defined benefit pension plans, it is commonly understood that the used to compute…
The Actuary Civil War of 2016 that broke out this past summer between the Society of Actuaries and American…
As the session nears its end, the Texas Legislature faces the decision either to act responsibly and begin to…
Public employee pension plans around the country are facing a shortfall of at least $1 trillion, and some of…
Public pensions across the U.S. have a big problem: The gap between their assets and liabilities is growing…
This fall, Florida’s top pension plan investment manager is singing the praises of his fund that…
As the session nears its end, the legislature faces the decision to either act responsibly and begin to…
Research by IMF economists indicates that government employee pension fund assets are significantly smaller…
Fitch Ratings released a report last week evaluating the asset allocations of the largest public sector…
Article
August 19, 2019
The Growing Costs of Arizona’s State Retirement System are Crowding Out Teacher Pay and Education Finances
The Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS) provides retirement income for nearly 150,000 former teachers,…
Article
August 19, 2019
Everything Has to Go Exactly Right for Arizona’s Pension Plan to Avoid a Sustainability Crisis
We all make assumptions in life. We assume that when we flip a light switch that the electricity will work.…
For America’s states and local governments to function properly and thrive — that is, to provide…
When pension plans are struggling with solvency, a common proposal is to close the pension plan. However,…
An 80% funded ratio often has been cited in recent years as a basis for whether a pension plan is financially…
In California, School districts’ unfunded pension and benefit costs are rapidly increasing at a rate that…
State and local governments are on the hook to pay retirement benefits to public employees such as teachers…
The unfunded obligations of the pension systems sponsored by state and local governments in the United States…
A number of pension funds are lowering their return expectations for private equity at a time when officials…
CalSTRS’ investment committee Thursday approved a new private equity investment policy, adopting a new…
“This paper analyses the evolution of the United States’ public sector balance sheet and projects it…
One of the primary factors driving state and local unfunded pension liabilities is the failure of governments…
Public pension plans underperformed in 2019 on their projected returns this year, adding to the burden on…
Data & Resources
There are at least two dozen state and local pension funds with direct exposure to the failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). State and federal […]
Article
March 1, 2023
Hidden Education Funding Cuts: How Growing Teacher Pension Debt Stresses America’s K–12 Education Budgets
What do Tom Brady, Shaquille O’Neal, and at least 15 state or local pension funds have in common? They are all old. And they’ve all […]
Research & Reports
January 31, 2023
Pension Debt Challenges for Equity in Education: California, Texas, Florida, and Ohio
Today, Equable Institute and Opportunity Institute have released new research exploring the effect of teacher pension debt on education resource equity in California, Texas, Florida, and […]
Based on funded ratio, Tennessee, Washington, Utah, South Dakota, and Washington, D.C. have the best funded public pension plans in the United States, as of […]
Equable Perspectives
July 18, 2023
Emerging Threats to America’s Public Pensions: Valuation Risk, Market Uncertainty, and Politics
In 2023 and beyond, public pensions in the United States are entering an era of new threats and more uncertainty than ever before. The stagnant […]
Could a U.S. Debt Default Be a Good Thing For Public Pensions? Currently, there’s no clear end in sight for the political fight over the […]
This week is Teacher Appreciation week in the United States and if it’s anything like the past few years, schools and districts will celebrate teachers […]
