State retirement profile · Form 5500
According to DOL Form 5500 filings (plan year 2024), employer-sponsored 401(k), pension, and other retirement plans headquartered in Alabama report the totals below.
Data updated 2026-08-25
$53.2B across 1,591 plans
According to DOL Form 5500 filings (plan year 2024), Alabama has 1,591 employer-sponsored retirement plans holding $53.2B in total assets for 572,620 participants, ranking 34th nationally by plan assets, with 75% structured as 401(k)s and an average of $33M per plan.
The state in one line
Alabama hosts 1,591 employer-sponsored retirement plans holding $53.2B for 572,620 participants, the 34th-largest state by plan assets.
Alabama: 1,591 employer-sponsored plans (1,201 401(k)), $53.2B aggregate assets, 572,620 participants. Average plan: $33M; largest is Regions Financial Corporation 401(k) Plan at $3.2B. Leading sector by assets: Professional & Technical Services (24%). These figures aggregate the 1,591 Form 5500 filings Alabama sponsors submitted for plan year 2024, counted by sponsor headquarters rather than participant residence; a plan administered in Alabama can cover workers across several states, and the methodology page details that HQ-vs-residence distinction. DOL Form 5500 methodology + HQ-vs-residence caveats →
Among plans headquartered here, Professional & Technical Services accounts for $12.8B across 286 filings, ahead of Finance & Insurance at $10.7B. 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
Employee Stock Ownership Plans here hold $2.6B. 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
Alabama sits mid-pack by plan assets (#34 of 56). Peer states with similar totals are the fairest comparison set; national leaders will dominate any unfiltered ranking.
DOL Form 5500 plan year 2024
Alabama's place in the national asset distribution
All states with reported Form 5500 plan assets · plan year 2024
$53,249,551,206 41st percentile higher than 41% of 56 states with reported plan assets
Dashed line + filled bar = this entry, among states with reported plan assets.
Source U.S. Department of Labor, EBSA Form 5500 public disclosure dataset · plan year 2024
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, EBSA Form 5500 public disclosure dataset · plan year 2024.
Top sectors by Form 5500 plan assets for sponsors headquartered here (plan year 2024).
| Industry | Plans | Assets |
|---|---|---|
| Professional & Technical Services | 286 | $12.8B |
| Finance & Insurance | 125 | $10.7B |
| Manufacturing | 217 | $9.6B |
| Healthcare & Social Assistance | 313 | $7.6B |
| Mining & Oil Extraction | 19 | $2.9B |
States ranked adjacent to Alabama by total retirement plan assets.
Two DOL Form 5500-derived peer sets for Alabama, each a different nationwide metric so the neighborhoods are not geographic containment (the asset-ranked nearby list above stays regional).
Nearest other states by reported employer plan filings (1,591 here).
Nearest other states by aggregate plan assets ($53.2B here).
Industry-mix reading
Ways to act on Alabama's numbers.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, EBSA Form 5500 public disclosure dataset. Shows the top 25 plans by total assets headquartered in Alabama, out of 130,145 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.