Side-by-side · Form 5500
Compare retirement plans, types & states
Put two or more items next to each other — plan types, states, or individual plans — and read the Form 5500 figures side by side. Pick a starting comparison below, or open any plan page and use its compare link.
- 5,000+
- Plans you can compare
- 50
- States
- 7
- Plan types
Compare plan types
According to the U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration, the 2023 Form 5500 filings span roughly 133,317 employer-sponsored plans — about 109,151 of them 401(k) plans and only 5,156 traditional defined-benefit pensions. The structures differ sharply: defined-contribution plans (401(k), profit-sharing, ESOP) put the investment risk on the participant, while a defined-benefit pension promises a fixed payment and obliges the employer to fund it. Each comparison below lines two structures up on plan counts, total assets, and average participants, drawn straight from the filings. See our methodology for how the figures are computed.
Compare states
Compare plan counts, participants, and total assets between any two states. Browse all states to build your own.
Compare individual plans
To compare specific retirement plans, open any plan page from the largest-plans list and use its “Compare side by side” link, which lines it up against its closest peers by state and plan type.