Retirement Plans by Industry
Plan counts and assets by industry sector across more than 130,000 retirement plans and $12 trillion in assets, from DOL Form 5500 filings for the 2024 plan year. Sectors range from manufacturing and finance to healthcare and retail. See our methodology.
| Industry | Plans | 401(k) Plans | Participants | Total Assets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Professional & Technical Services | 20,409 | 17,952 | 9,777,762 | $1.3T |
| Manufacturing | 17,599 | 14,457 | 13,399,641 | $3.0T |
| Healthcare & Social Assistance | 16,498 | 12,663 | 14,518,037 | $1.2T |
| Construction | 8,704 | 6,903 | 4,730,289 | $581.1B |
| Finance & Insurance | 8,569 | 7,031 | 7,397,233 | $1.4T |
| Retail Trade | 8,153 | 7,484 | 12,003,435 | $534.9B |
| Other Services | 7,732 | 6,583 | 2,162,668 | $146.3B |
| Wholesale Trade | 5,997 | 5,138 | 2,809,569 | $329.8B |
| Real Estate | 4,622 | 4,248 | 1,533,264 | $118.1B |
| Administrative & Support Services | 4,498 | 4,184 | 3,626,733 | $117.4B |
| Food Services & Accommodation | 3,843 | 3,665 | 3,152,739 | $74.6B |
| Transportation & Warehousing | 3,295 | 2,817 | 4,217,936 | $552.1B |
| Educational Services | 3,219 | 1,446 | 2,228,269 | $406.7B |
| Arts, Entertainment & Recreation | 2,976 | 2,555 | 1,247,805 | $82.1B |
| Information & Media | 2,823 | 2,395 | 3,009,329 | $641.3B |
| Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing | 1,197 | 1,027 | 558,281 | $28.6B |
| Management of Enterprises | 1,133 | 902 | 1,702,296 | $412.6B |
| Mining & Oil Extraction | 794 | 656 | 495,484 | $93.9B |
| Utilities | 749 | 492 | 1,154,425 | $409.1B |
| Public Administration | 93 | 76 | 63,788 | $3.2B |
| Unclassified | 39 | 29 | 16,466 | $101M |
Browsing PlainRetire by Industry
The industry index organizes records by their primary economic activity. For regulated datasets this usually maps to an official classification, NAICS, SIC, SOC, or an agency-specific scheme, and we preserve the original code alongside a plain-language label so that researchers using either vocabulary can find what they need. Where multiple classification schemes disagree on where a record belongs, we default to the scheme used by the issuing agency and note the difference on the industry page.
Reading Industry-Level Data
Aggregate industry numbers are most useful for trend-spotting and comparative framing; they are less useful for decisions about a single employer, contractor, or facility. A high industry-average does not mean every record in the industry sits at the average, and a low industry-average does not mean outliers are not present. When an industry-level view would obscure a material within-industry difference, we drill down to sub-industries or to the records themselves and flag the drill-down on the industry page.
Classification Refresh Cadence
Industry classifications change over time. A record that was categorized one way in 2018 may be categorized differently today, either because the underlying business changed or because the classification scheme was updated. We use the latest available classification for each record as of the last data refresh, and we publish the refresh date at the bottom of the industry page. For historical analyses where continuity of classification matters, consult the raw source data linked from the methodology page.
Editorial Independence
Our industry coverage is dictated by the dataset and by visitor demand, not by advertisers or commercial partners. We do not accept paid placement in the industry index; we do not remove industries from the index at a sponsor's request; and we do not prioritize industries for editorial coverage based on revenue potential. If a specific industry appears under-covered, the reason is typically that the underlying dataset has sparse records there, not that we are suppressing it.
Why Industry Matters for Retirement Planning
The American retirement system has bifurcated along industry lines over the past forty years. Traditional pension-heavy industries, manufacturing, utilities, transportation, public education, retain a meaningful population of defined-benefit plans, often as legacy structures with closed enrollment for new hires. Industries that grew up after the 1981 Internal Revenue Code change that authorized 401(k) plans, technology, financial services, professional services, are nearly entirely defined-contribution. Some industries, notably construction and entertainment, run multi-employer pension funds that pool contributions across employers and unions; these funds appear in Form 5500 as separate filings with their own asset bases and funded-status histories.
PlainRetire's industry pages organize plans by their reported NAICS code (when present) or, when NAICS is missing, by an industry label derived from the plan sponsor name. The resulting view lets a participant or analyst see, for instance, the prevalence of ESOPs in employee-owned manufacturers, the asset concentration of financial-services 401(k) plans, or the participant counts of multi-employer health-and-welfare-plus-pension Taft–Hartley funds in transportation.
What Industry Aggregates Can and Cannot Tell You
Industry-level aggregates are useful for spotting patterns: which sectors have larger plans on average, where defined-benefit plans persist, which industries have higher employer contribution rates as a share of payroll. They are less useful for decisions about a specific employer's plan, because within-industry variation is often as large as between-industry variation. A small technology firm may run a plan that looks more like a manufacturing plan than a tech plan; a manufacturing conglomerate may run a plan that looks more like a financial services plan. When evaluating a specific plan, drill from the industry page into the plan detail page and inspect plan-specific characteristics, vesting schedule, employer match, investment menu, fees, rather than relying on the industry average.
Industry classifications can drift across years as DOL updates the NAICS taxonomy or as sponsor businesses change primary activity. PlainRetire uses the classification reported in the most recent accepted filing and preserves earlier classifications in the historical record on each plan detail page.