State retirement profile · Form 5500

Retirement Plans in California

According to DOL Form 5500 filings (plan year 2024), employer-sponsored 401(k), pension, and other retirement plans headquartered in California report the totals below.

Data updated 2026-08-06

14,392
Plans
$1.2T
Total assets
#1
By assets

$1.2T across 14,392 plans

According to DOL Form 5500 filings (plan year 2024), California has 14,392 employer-sponsored retirement plans holding $1.2T in total assets for 9,160,928 participants, ranking 1st nationally by plan assets, with 76% structured as 401(k)s and an average of $86M per plan.

  • 1st nationally by plan assets
  • 76% 401(k) plans

The state in one line

California hosts 14,392 employer-sponsored retirement plans holding $1.2T for 9,160,928 participants, the 1st-largest state by plan assets.

$1.2T
total plan assets
14,392
employer plans
$134,945
avg assets per participant
76%
of plans are 401(k)s
401(k) Plans
10,872
Participants
9,160,928

What the Form 5500 Data Shows for California

California: 14,392 employer-sponsored plans (10,872 401(k)), $1.2T aggregate assets, 9,160,928 participants. Average plan: $86M; largest is Google LLC 401(k) Savings Plan at $48.7B. Leading sector by assets: Manufacturing (20%). These figures aggregate the 14,392 Form 5500 filings California sponsors submitted for plan year 2024, counted by sponsor headquarters rather than participant residence; a plan administered in California can cover workers across several states, and the methodology page details that HQ-vs-residence distinction. DOL Form 5500 methodology + HQ-vs-residence caveats →

Manufacturing leads California plan assets (20%)

Among plans headquartered here, Manufacturing accounts for $242.3B across 1,675 filings, ahead of Healthcare & Social Assistance at $241.8B. Sector mix is a Form 5500-derived signal: it reflects where sponsors file from, not where every participant lives.

DOL Form 5500 plan year 2024

California hosts 627 ESOP filings

Employee Stock Ownership Plans here hold $21.4B. ESOP density is uneven across states; when the count clears a meaningful floor, the ESOP ranking and industry pages are the better drill-downs than a 401(k)-only read.

DOL Form 5500 plan year 2024

Where California sits in the Form 5500 corpus

California sits in the top decile of U.S. states by Form 5500 plan assets (#1 of 56), so national rankings and peer comparisons are the useful next read.

DOL Form 5500 plan year 2024

Industry mix in California

Top sectors by Form 5500 plan assets for sponsors headquartered here (plan year 2024).

Industry Plans Assets
Manufacturing 1,675 $242.3B
Healthcare & Social Assistance 1,896 $241.8B
Professional & Technical Services 3,129 $192.7B
Information & Media 577 $171.4B
Finance & Insurance 821 $70.8B

Largest Plans in California

# Plan Name Type Participants Total Assets
1 Google LLC 401(k) Savings Plan 401(k) 116,712 $48.7B
2 Kaiser Permanente Retirement Plan Defined Benefit (Pension) 135,057 $34.5B
3 Oracle Corporation 401(k) Savings and Investment Plan 401(k) 58,962 $31.0B
4 Intel 401(k) Savings Plan 401(k) 55,298 $24.9B
5 Apple 401(k) Plan 401(k) 101,450 $24.7B
6 Cisco Systems,Inc. 401(k) Plan 401(k) 40,452 $22.7B
7 Kaiser Permanente 401(k) Retirement Plan 401(k) 149,110 $22.5B
8 Pacific Gas and Electric Company Retirement Plan Defined Benefit (Pension) 27,500 $17.6B
9 Meta Platforms, Inc 401(k) Plan 401(k) 51,434 $16.5B
10 U.S. Roche 401(k) Savings Plan 401(k) 22,986 $14.3B
11 Kaiser Permanente Tax Sheltered Annuity Plan 401(k) 79,670 $13.8B
12 Broadcom U.S. 401(k) Plan 401(k) 10,747 $13.1B
13 Disney Savings and Investment Plan 401(k) 49,567 $12.7B
14 Stanford Contributory Retirement Plan Other 22,753 $12.6B
15 Retirement Plan for Physicians and Salaried Employees of the Permanente Medical Group, Inc. Defined Benefit (Pension) 18,983 $11.4B
16 Western States Carpenters Pension Plan Defined Benefit (Pension) 48,582 $11.3B
17 Disney Salaried Pension Plan D Defined Benefit (Pension) 9,984 $10.4B
18 The Permanente Medical Group, Inc. Salary Deferral Plan 401(k) 21,688 $9.9B
19 Qualcomm Incorporated Employee Savings and Retirement Plan 401(k) 13,777 $9.7B
20 Salesforce 401(k) Plan 401(k) 36,689 $9.1B
21 Trinet 401(k) Plan 401(k) 220,583 $8.7B
22 Kaiser Permanente Retirement Plan for Scpmg Defined Benefit (Pension) 50,341 $8.4B
23 Albertsons Companies 401(k) Plan 401(k) 201,289 $8.0B
24 The Permanente Contribution Plan of the Permanente Medical Group, Inc. Money Purchase 18,550 $7.9B
25 Scpmg Keogh Plan Profit Sharing 10,749 $7.9B

Nearby States by Retirement Plan Footprint

States ranked adjacent to California by total retirement plan assets.

Compare California side-by-side with 3 peer states →

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the largest retirement plan headquartered in California? ▼
The largest Form 5500 filing by assets with a headquarters address in California is Google LLC 401(k) Savings Plan ($48.7B, 116,712 participants).
Which industry leads California retirement plan assets? ▼
Manufacturing leads with $242.3B across 1,675 plans headquartered here (20% of state plan assets).
How does California compare to other states for retirement plans? ▼
California sits in the top decile of U.S. states by Form 5500 plan assets (#1 of 56), so national rankings and peer comparisons are the useful next read.

Next read for California

Industry-mix reading

Ways to act on California's numbers.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, EBSA Form 5500 public disclosure dataset. Shows the top 25 plans by total assets headquartered in California, out of 122,942 ERISA-covered plans nationally. Plan year 2024.

Source: DOL EFAST2 filing system (efast.dol.gov) - state is the plan sponsor's headquarters state as recorded on the Form 5500 filing.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sourced from U.S. Department of Labor Form 5500 filings (EBSA). See our methodology for details.