Key Takeaways
- • Median public DB pension plans delivered 10.0% returns in calendar year 2024, significantly exceeding the 7.25% average assumed return benchmark, marking the fifth consecutive year of outperformance in this cycle.
- • Form 5500 datasets covering approximately 800,000 retirement and welfare benefit plans serve as the primary regulatory information source for pension plan operations, funding, and investment activity, with data structures standardized since 2009 and updated monthly.
- • Public pension plans have collectively reduced assumed return projections by 0.7% since 2010 (from 7.8% to approximately 7.1%), reflecting a broader recalibration of long-term performance expectations across the industry regardless of individual plan funded status.
- • Ten-year returns for public pensions reporting FY 2025 data averaged 10.2% net of fees, demonstrating sustained outperformance relative to historical benchmarks, while one-year returns for the same cohort reached 10.2%.
- • Public plans database provides comprehensive plan-level pension performance and cost data extending back to 2001, enabling longitudinal analysis of funding trends, return assumptions, and actuarial practices across state and municipal retirement systems.
Summary
Americans for Financial Reform's analysis of Form 5500 and Public Plans Database returns spanning 2009–2024 provides institutional investors with a detailed empirical foundation for evaluating pension plan performance, funding adequacy, and investment strategy across both private and public retirement systems.
The Form 5500 Annual Report remains the authoritative regulatory source for approximately 800,000 U.S. retirement and welfare benefit plans, capturing comprehensive data on operations, funding levels, and investment returns. Datasets are standardized from 2009 forward and updated monthly around the first of each month, with historical records back to 2008 complete and static. This consistency enables reliable year-over-year comparative analysis and trend identification across the pension universe.
Public defined-benefit pension plans demonstrated noteworthy investment performance in 2024, with median returns reaching 10.0%—a substantial outpacing of the 7.25% average assumed return target. This represents the fifth consecutive year in which public plans have exceeded actuarial return assumptions, supporting improved funded status and reducing contribution pressure on sponsoring municipalities and states. However, the broader industry has adopted more conservative long-term return assumptions since 2010, with projected returns declining 0.7% across the sector (from 7.8% to approximately 7.1%), a shift implemented uniformly regardless of individual plan funded ratios.
The Public Plans Database snapshot and NCPERS 2026 Public Retirement Systems Study reinforce this performance picture. Plans with fiscal year-end dates in the first half of 2025 reported average one-year returns of 10.2% net of fees, alongside ten-year annualized returns of 10.2%, demonstrating resilience and recovery following prior market cycles. Plan-level data extending to 2001 enables sophisticated analysis of pension cost trends, return correlation with assumed rates, and asset allocation decisions across the nation's largest public retirement systems.
This analysis provides institutional investors and family offices with empirical evidence for evaluating pension asset performance, liability-driven investment strategies, and the sustainability of current assumed return assumptions in the context of evolving capital markets.
The Form 5500 Annual Report remains the authoritative regulatory source for approximately 800,000 U.S. retirement and welfare benefit plans, capturing comprehensive data on operations, funding levels, and investment returns. Datasets are standardized from 2009 forward and updated monthly around the first of each month, with historical records back to 2008 complete and static. This consistency enables reliable year-over-year comparative analysis and trend identification across the pension universe.
Public defined-benefit pension plans demonstrated noteworthy investment performance in 2024, with median returns reaching 10.0%—a substantial outpacing of the 7.25% average assumed return target. This represents the fifth consecutive year in which public plans have exceeded actuarial return assumptions, supporting improved funded status and reducing contribution pressure on sponsoring municipalities and states. However, the broader industry has adopted more conservative long-term return assumptions since 2010, with projected returns declining 0.7% across the sector (from 7.8% to approximately 7.1%), a shift implemented uniformly regardless of individual plan funded ratios.
The Public Plans Database snapshot and NCPERS 2026 Public Retirement Systems Study reinforce this performance picture. Plans with fiscal year-end dates in the first half of 2025 reported average one-year returns of 10.2% net of fees, alongside ten-year annualized returns of 10.2%, demonstrating resilience and recovery following prior market cycles. Plan-level data extending to 2001 enables sophisticated analysis of pension cost trends, return correlation with assumed rates, and asset allocation decisions across the nation's largest public retirement systems.
This analysis provides institutional investors and family offices with empirical evidence for evaluating pension asset performance, liability-driven investment strategies, and the sustainability of current assumed return assumptions in the context of evolving capital markets.
Go deeper than the headline
Research every firm in this story, track the ones that matter and get the daily briefing — free for 7 days.