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 California report the totals below.
Data updated 2026-08-25
$1.3T across 15,291 plans
According to DOL Form 5500 filings (plan year 2024), California has 15,291 employer-sponsored retirement plans holding $1.3T in total assets for 9,635,555 participants, ranking 1st nationally by plan assets, with 74% structured as 401(k)s and an average of $87M per plan.
The state in one line
California hosts 15,291 employer-sponsored retirement plans holding $1.3T for 9,635,555 participants, the 1st-largest state by plan assets.
California: 15,291 employer-sponsored plans (11,363 401(k)), $1.3T aggregate assets, 9,635,555 participants. Average plan: $87M; largest is Google LLC 401(k) Savings Plan at $48.7B. Leading sector by assets: Manufacturing (19%). These figures aggregate the 15,291 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 →
Among plans headquartered here, Manufacturing accounts for $247.5B across 1,771 filings, ahead of Healthcare & Social Assistance at $245.0B. 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 $25.7B. 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
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
California's place in the national asset distribution
All states with reported Form 5500 plan assets · plan year 2024
$1,324,371,844,360 Highest reported value at or above every one 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 1,771 | $247.5B |
| Healthcare & Social Assistance | 2,057 | $245.0B |
| Professional & Technical Services | 3,238 | $199.6B |
| Information & Media | 592 | $172.0B |
| Construction | 1,060 | $108.2B |
States ranked adjacent to California by total retirement plan assets.
Two DOL Form 5500-derived peer sets for California, 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 (15,291 here).
Nearest other states by aggregate plan assets ($1.3T here).
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 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.