In 2024, California had $1,390.5 billion in total cash and investment holdings in its public pension funds, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Annual Survey of Public Pensions.
Of that amount, $1,033 billion was in state pension funds, and the remaining $357.5 billion was in local government pension funds.
The U.S. Census Bureau’s Annual Survey of Public Pensions covers defined-benefit pension systems sponsored by recognized government units whose membership consists of public employees compensated with public funds. Local governments in the survey are defined as counties, municipalities, townships, school districts, and special districts.
The survey provides data on revenues, expenditures, financial assets, and membership for these pension systems, and detailed questionnaires can include additional measures such as liabilities.
Not all respondents provide complete information for every item; response rates vary by data element, which can affect the availability of certain figures in the published tables.
California reported data from 83 pension systems, including 10 state-level pension funds and 73 local-level systems. The total number of pension system members was 4.6 million (3.7 million at the state level and 902,151 at the local level).
Information in this article was obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Annual Survey of Public Pensions. The source data can be found here.
