State retirement profile · Form 5500

Retirement Plans in North Carolina

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

Data updated 2026-08-25

3,515
Plans
$357.4B
Total assets
#14
By assets

$357.4B across 3,515 plans

According to DOL Form 5500 filings (plan year 2024), North Carolina has 3,515 employer-sponsored retirement plans holding $357.4B in total assets for 2,878,770 participants, ranking 14th nationally by plan assets, with 74% structured as 401(k)s and an average of $102M per plan.

  • 14th nationally by plan assets
  • 74% 401(k) plans

The state in one line

North Carolina hosts 3,515 employer-sponsored retirement plans holding $357.4B for 2,878,770 participants, the 14th-largest state by plan assets.

$357.4B
total plan assets
3,515
employer plans
$124,141
avg assets per participant
74%
of plans are 401(k)s
401(k) Plans
2,614
Participants
2,878,770

What the Form 5500 Data Shows for North Carolina

North Carolina: 3,515 employer-sponsored plans (2,614 401(k)), $357.4B aggregate assets, 2,878,770 participants. Average plan: $102M; largest is The Bank of America 401(k) Plan at $62.9B. Leading sector by assets: Manufacturing (28%). These figures aggregate the 3,515 Form 5500 filings North Carolina sponsors submitted for plan year 2024, counted by sponsor headquarters rather than participant residence; a plan administered in North Carolina can cover workers across several states, and the methodology page details that HQ-vs-residence distinction. DOL Form 5500 methodology + HQ-vs-residence caveats →

The Bank of America 401(k) Plan accounts for 17.6% of all North Carolina retirement plan assets

That concentration means North Carolina-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Bank of America Corporation sponsors the filing; drill into the plan page for schedules and audit detail. When one entity dominates a region's footprint, its programmatic and budget decisions effectively set policy for a majority of participants counted in this state total.

DOL Form 5500 plan year 2024

Manufacturing leads North Carolina plan assets (28%)

Among plans headquartered here, Manufacturing accounts for $101.1B across 570 filings, ahead of Management of Enterprises at $66.9B. 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

North Carolina hosts 107 ESOP filings

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

Where North Carolina sits in the Form 5500 corpus

North Carolina ranks in the upper half by plan assets (#14 of 56). Its totals are large enough for industry-mix and largest-plan concentration to matter more than the headline alone.

DOL Form 5500 plan year 2024

North Carolina's place in the national asset distribution

All states with reported Form 5500 plan assets · plan year 2024

$357,373,086,773 Top 23% higher than 77% of 56 states with reported plan assets

North Carolina $0 $1,324,371,844,360 state retirement-plan assets, bucketed by value

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

North Carolina's retirement-plan mix

1. 401(k)2,6142. Profit Sharing4963. Other1434. Defined Benefit (Pension)1395. ESOP107
The five most common Form 5500 plan types among sponsors headquartered in North Carolina. This count describes filings, not participants or assets.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, EBSA Form 5500 public disclosure dataset · plan year 2024.

Industry mix in North Carolina

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

Industry Plans Assets
Manufacturing 570 $101.1B
Management of Enterprises 20 $66.9B
Finance & Insurance 133 $38.9B
Healthcare & Social Assistance 436 $27.1B
Information & Media 82 $22.8B

Largest Plans in North Carolina

# Plan Name Type Participants Total Assets
1 The Bank of America 401(k) Plan 401(k) 168,963 $62.9B
2 Honeywell Retirement Earnings Plan Defined Benefit (Pension) 9,923 $16.6B
3 Honeywell 401(k) Plan 401(k) 39,468 $16.3B
4 Truist Financial Corporation Pension Plan Defined Benefit (Pension) 38,548 $14.7B
5 Duke Energy Retirement Savings Plan 401(k) 27,341 $11.3B
6 The Duke University Faculty and Staff Retirement Plan Other 48,377 $11.0B
7 Nucor Corporation Profit Sharing and Retirement Savings Plan 401(k) 27,070 $9.3B
8 Truist Financial Corporation 401(k) Savings Plan 401(k) 52,699 $9.2B
9 Charter Communications, Inc. 401(k) Savings Plan 401(k) 102,013 $8.9B
10 Lowes 401(k) Plan 401(k) 280,261 $8.6B
11 Trane Technologies Employee Savings Plan (Esp) 401(k) 19,674 $7.5B
12 Duke Energy Retirement Cash Balance Plan Defined Benefit (Pension) 13,576 $4.7B
13 Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings 401(k) Savings Plan 401(k) 47,710 $4.5B
14 Sas Retirement Plan 401(k) 6,175 $3.7B
15 Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center 403(b) Retirement Savings Plan Other 19,745 $3.6B
16 Iqvia 401(k) Plan 401(k) 20,245 $3.6B
17 Abb Inc. Retirement Savings Plan 401(k) 13,559 $3.3B
18 Hearst Retirement Savings Plan 401(k) 14,150 $3.1B
19 Employees' Retirement Plan of Duke University Defined Benefit (Pension) 22,655 $2.8B
20 First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company 401(k) Plan 401(k) 15,251 $2.7B
21 Lenovo Savings Plan 401(k) 4,711 $2.6B
22 Tax Deferred Savings Plan of Novant Health, Inc. Profit Sharing 38,137 $2.5B
23 Compass Group Retirement Plan 401(k) 244,875 $2.5B
24 The Hearst Corporation Retirement Plan Defined Benefit (Pension) 1,745 $2.4B
25 Old Dominion 401(k) Retirement Plan 401(k) 23,235 $2.4B

Nearby States by Retirement Plan Footprint

States ranked adjacent to North Carolina by total retirement plan assets.

Compare North Carolina side-by-side with 3 peer states →

Nationwide states with similar retirement plan scale

Two DOL Form 5500-derived peer sets for North Carolina, each a different nationwide metric so the neighborhoods are not geographic containment (the asset-ranked nearby list above stays regional).

Similar plan count

Nearest other states by reported employer plan filings (3,515 here).

Georgia 3,635 plans Virginia 3,655 plans Wisconsin 2,940 plans New Jersey 4,145 plans

Similar total assets

Nearest other states by aggregate plan assets ($357.4B here).

Connecticut $326.8B Florida $313.0B Maryland $304.0B Michigan $419.4B

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the largest retirement plan headquartered in North Carolina? ▼
The largest Form 5500 filing by assets with a headquarters address in North Carolina is The Bank of America 401(k) Plan ($62.9B, 168,963 participants).
How concentrated are North Carolina retirement plan assets? ▼
The Bank of America 401(k) Plan alone accounts for about 18% of the state's Form 5500 plan assets in plan year 2024. State averages can mask that concentration.
Which industry leads North Carolina retirement plan assets? ▼
Manufacturing leads with $101.1B across 570 plans headquartered here (28% of state plan assets).
How does North Carolina compare to other states for retirement plans? ▼
North Carolina ranks in the upper half by plan assets (#14 of 56). Its totals are large enough for industry-mix and largest-plan concentration to matter more than the headline alone.

Next read for North Carolina

Concentration reading

Ways to act on North Carolina's numbers.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, EBSA Form 5500 public disclosure dataset. Shows the top 25 plans by total assets headquartered in North Carolina, 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.

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