Now Available: NCPERS 2026 Public Retirement Systems Study
By: Hank Kim, CEO, NCPERS
One of the most common questions NCPERS hears from public pension leaders is simple: How are our peers navigating today’s environment?
With continued market volatility, elevated inflation, and rapid changes in technology, having clear, credible data matters more than ever. That’s why I’m pleased to share that NCPERS 2026 Public Retirement Systems Study is now available.
Conducted annually since 2011, the study is a trusted resource for public pension professionals seeking insight into investment trends, funding practices, and operational priorities across peer systems of all sizes.
Benchmarking Public Pensions: Why Context Matters
Whether you’re preparing for a board meeting, engaging with stakeholders, or evaluating peer practices, NCPERS Public Retirement Systems Study provides the data and context needed to support informed decision-making.
Each system is unique, which can make benchmarking performance feel like comparing apples to oranges. With differing plan designs, populations served, employer characteristics, fiscal year-end dates, and political environments, context is key for meaningful peer comparisons.
That’s why NCPERS members also have exclusive access to an interactive online dashboard that allows users to filter data by plan size, employee type, and other variables for more accurate benchmarking. Further, the report breaks down data by fiscal year-end periods and highlights same-sample trends where possible.
Key Themes from NCPERS 2026 Public Retirement Systems Study
This year’s study received 149 responses from systems that collectively serve approximately 18.1 million members and manage assets ranging from less than $100 million to more than $500 billion.
The data shows public pensions are staying focused on disciplined funding policies, diversified asset allocation, and operational efficiencies — even as markets and inflation remain unpredictable.
Top leadership priorities identified include maintaining funding levels, modernizing pension administrative systems, and enhancing cybersecurity and fraud prevention efforts.
Investment Strategy and Risk Management Trends
The data show modest reductions in equity allocations and increased exposure to fixed income as systems rebalance risk amid changing capital market assumptions. At the same time, investment returns remain strong over longer horizons — reinforcing the value of diversification and prudent governance.
Systems with fiscal year end dates in the first half of 2025 reported average one-year investment returns of 10.2% (net of fees) and ten-year returns of 7.5%.
Funding Discipline Remains a Key Driver of Fiscal Health
On the funding side, the study continues to underscore the importance of consistent contributions. Systems that received their full actuarially determined contribution reported meaningfully higher (median: 13.2 percentage points) funded ratios than those that did not. This long-standing lesson remains one of the most actionable insights for plan sponsors and policymakers alike.
Discount rates continued their slow decline, averaging 6.67% for respondents with fiscal year end dates in the first half of 2025, and amortization periods averaged 18.6 years. Notably, a growing number of systems (24.4%) are utilizing layered amortization approaches.
Leaders Are Cautiously Embracing AI
While pensions are taking a cautious approach to AI adoption, the pace has picked up significantly over the last year. Just over 35% of respondents report using artificial intelligence for at least one purpose, including fraud detection, actuarial forecasting, data modeling, and participant communications.
Strengthening Public Pensions Through Data
NCPERS 2026 Public Retirement Systems Study offers practical insights into the fiscal, investment, and governance practices that continue to make public pensions a cornerstone of retirement security in the United States. At a time when retirement outcomes for many Americans remain uncertain, the data reinforce a clear conclusion: well-governed, properly funded public pension systems work.
Over the past 40 years, the shift away from traditional pensions toward individual account plans like 401(k)s has contributed to a growing retirement crisis. Public pensions offer a proven, cost-effective alternative. By pooling assets and investing over the long term, pensions consistently deliver the same or better retirement income at nearly half the cost of individual account plans.
Approximately 60% of pensions’ overall revenue comes from investment earnings. Coupled with employee contributions, this means that for every dollar paid in benefits, roughly 70 cents is subsidized by investment returns and employee contributions, with only 30 cents coming from employers. Just as important, public pensions play a vital role in the broader economy. NCPERS research shows that public pension benefits generated $2.9 trillion in economic output and $661.9 billion in state and local tax revenue in 2023 alone — another compelling reason to protect and strengthen these systems.
We hope you find the report and accompanying member-only dashboard to be valuable resources. For more insights, I encourage you to explore our research library and toolkits for public pension professionals.
If you have any questions about the study, please don’t hesitate to reach out to NCPERS Director of Research, Matt Eckel at research@ncpers.org.