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 Kentucky report the totals below.
Data updated 2026-08-25
$77.1B across 1,300 plans
According to DOL Form 5500 filings (plan year 2024), Kentucky has 1,300 employer-sponsored retirement plans holding $77.1B in total assets for 841,196 participants, ranking 29th nationally by plan assets, with 72% structured as 401(k)s and an average of $59M per plan.
The state in one line
Kentucky hosts 1,300 employer-sponsored retirement plans holding $77.1B for 841,196 participants, the 29th-largest state by plan assets.
Kentucky: 1,300 employer-sponsored plans (931 401(k)), $77.1B aggregate assets, 841,196 participants. Average plan: $59M; largest is Commonspirit Health 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan at $8.8B. Leading sector by assets: Healthcare & Social Assistance (30%). These figures aggregate the 1,300 Form 5500 filings Kentucky sponsors submitted for plan year 2024, counted by sponsor headquarters rather than participant residence; a plan administered in Kentucky 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, Healthcare & Social Assistance accounts for $23.3B across 196 filings, ahead of Manufacturing at $13.8B. 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
Employee Stock Ownership Plans here hold $5.1B. 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
Kentucky sits mid-pack by plan assets (#29 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
Kentucky's place in the national asset distribution
All states with reported Form 5500 plan assets · plan year 2024
$77,053,914,806 Top 50% higher than 50% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Healthcare & Social Assistance | 196 | $23.3B |
| Manufacturing | 238 | $13.8B |
| Finance & Insurance | 93 | $11.2B |
| Transportation & Warehousing | 41 | $6.4B |
| Construction | 118 | $4.1B |
States ranked adjacent to Kentucky by total retirement plan assets.
Two DOL Form 5500-derived peer sets for Kentucky, 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 (1,300 here).
Nearest other states by aggregate plan assets ($77.1B here).
Industry-mix reading
Ways to act on Kentucky's numbers.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, EBSA Form 5500 public disclosure dataset. Shows the top 25 plans by total assets headquartered in Kentucky, 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.