Browse PlainRetire
Every way into the PlainRetire dataset, by plan, state, industry, plan type, or ranking.
Methodology
PlainRetire mirrors the U.S. Department of Labor's public Form 5500 annual-return dataset for plan year 2024, released through the EBSA EFAST2 system. Each plan listed on this site corresponds to a Form 5500 filing submitted by the plan administrator to the Department of Labor, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. Employers with 100 or more participants are required to file; smaller plans may file voluntarily.
We combine four upstream files published by the DOL, the Form 5500 main record, Schedule H (large plan financials), Schedule I (small plan financials), and the business-code lookup, matching records via each filing's acknowledgment ID and EIN-plan-number pair. Asset figures shown throughout the site are end-of-year totals from Schedule H line 1l or Schedule I line 1c, depending on plan size.
What this data is: a point-in-time snapshot of plan finances and participant counts, self-reported by the plan sponsor and certified by the Form 5500 signer. What this data is not: a performance rating, a fee ranking, or a recommendation. A plan's total asset value reflects workforce size, contribution rates, and market returns compounded over decades, it is not a quality signal by itself. Plan "net income" can swing dramatically year-to-year based on market conditions. Before drawing any conclusion about a specific plan, verify the original filing on EFAST2.
Geographic attribution: plans are grouped by the plan sponsor's headquarters state as recorded on the Form 5500, not by participant residence. A nationwide employer headquartered in New York appears under New York even though participants may live in all 50 states.
Limitations: some very small plans (fewer than 100 participants) are excluded. Some historical fields change definitions between plan years and may not compare cleanly across multi-year histories. Filings with a status of "not yet filed" or "short plan year" are flagged but may carry partial data.
Primary dataset: U.S. Department of Labor, EBSA Form 5500 public disclosure dataset - dol.gov/agencies/ebsa.
Filing retrieval: DOL EFAST2 system - efast.dol.gov.
Top 5 states by retirement plan assets
Top 5 states, total retirement plan assets
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) Form 5500 Annual Reports Form 5500 filings (private-sector retirement, welfare, and DFE plans) - assets, participants, sponsors · 2024 Form 5500 is filed annually; data is published by the DOL EBSA with a typical 12-18 month lag from filing year. Plans with fewer than 100 participants file the simpler Form 5500-SF.
This page is informational only. It summarizes public regulatory filings for research and educational purposes and is not retirement, tax, legal, or financial advice. Before making decisions about your own retirement benefits or evaluating an employer's plan, verify the underlying filing directly on EFAST2 and consult a qualified professional.
Why Form 5500 Data Matters for Retirement Planning
Form 5500 is the annual return that virtually every private-sector retirement plan in the United States files with the Department of Labor. The filing covers funding, participant counts, plan investments, fees, service providers, and corrective contributions. Because the data is collected for regulatory oversight rather than marketing, it is one of the most consistent windows into the retirement economy: the same questions are asked of plans across all industries and all states, year after year. That consistency makes it possible to compare plans, sponsors, and markets on equal footing, a kind of comparability that voluntary survey data and vendor brochures cannot provide.
PlainRetire reorganizes the Form 5500 universe so a participant, employer, or analyst can ask everyday questions of the dataset without reading thousands of pages of agency documentation. Browsing by state surfaces concentration patterns: where pension assets sit, which states host the largest 401(k) sponsors, where retirement coverage trails the national average. Browsing by industry reveals the structural difference between sectors that historically relied on defined-benefit pensions and sectors that adopted defined-contribution plans early. Browsing by plan size highlights both the largest sponsors, typically Fortune 500 employers and multi-employer Taft–Hartley funds, and the long tail of small plans that collectively cover millions of workers.
What This Hub Page Aggregates
Each hub page on PlainRetire is a navigable index into the underlying database. The page shows summary counts, the most recent Form 5500 vintage, and direct links to individual plan detail pages. Detail pages carry the canonical filings, schedules where applicable, and audit trail back to the DOL's EFAST2 disclosure portal. Where the underlying dataset supports it, hub pages also expose key aggregates: total participant counts, aggregate assets, plan-type breakdowns (401(k), pension, profit-sharing, ESOP), and changes over the most recent reporting period.
Plan data is updated as DOL releases new annual Form 5500 datasets. Filings have a roughly seven-month lag from plan year end, so the most recent vintage typically reflects the previous full calendar year. This lag is inherent to the disclosure regime, plans are given time to gather audit reports and service-provider statements, and PlainRetire reflects the timing transparently rather than backfilling estimates.
Reading the Data With Appropriate Caveats
Aggregate numbers are useful for trend-spotting and structural comparison; they are less useful for decisions about a specific plan. The participant count for a state, for instance, includes both very large plans (which dominate the total) and very small plans (which influence median but not mean). When evaluating a specific employer's plan, drill into the plan detail page and consider plan-type, asset-mix, fee structure, and audit history, these details are flattened in any hub-level aggregate. Where regulatory updates change the categorization of a plan, PlainRetire preserves the historical filing alongside the most recent one so longitudinal analyses remain valid.