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 North Dakota report the totals below.
Data updated 2026-08-25
$21.5B across 359 plans
According to DOL Form 5500 filings (plan year 2024), North Dakota has 359 employer-sponsored retirement plans holding $21.5B in total assets for 181,094 participants, ranking 44th nationally by plan assets, with 70% structured as 401(k)s and an average of $60M per plan.
The state in one line
North Dakota hosts 359 employer-sponsored retirement plans holding $21.5B for 181,094 participants, the 44th-largest state by plan assets.
North Dakota: 359 employer-sponsored plans (250 401(k)), $21.5B aggregate assets, 181,094 participants. Average plan: $60M; largest is Sanford Retirement Savings Plan at $3.6B. Leading sector by assets: Healthcare & Social Assistance (24%). These figures aggregate the 359 Form 5500 filings North Dakota sponsors submitted for plan year 2024, counted by sponsor headquarters rather than participant residence; a plan administered in North Dakota can cover workers across several states, and the methodology page details that HQ-vs-residence distinction. DOL Form 5500 methodology + HQ-vs-residence caveats →
That concentration means North Dakota-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. SANFORD 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
Among plans headquartered here, Healthcare & Social Assistance accounts for $5.2B across 53 filings, ahead of Wholesale Trade at $2.7B. 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 $3.9B. 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
North Dakota is a smaller Form 5500 host by plan assets (#44 of 56). A single large sponsor can move the state total; read the largest-plan share before treating the average as typical.
DOL Form 5500 plan year 2024
North Dakota's place in the national asset distribution
All states with reported Form 5500 plan assets · plan year 2024
$21,532,885,563 23rd percentile higher than 23% 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 | 53 | $5.2B |
| Wholesale Trade | 19 | $2.7B |
| Construction | 43 | $2.5B |
| Utilities | 13 | $2.2B |
| Manufacturing | 38 | $2.0B |
States ranked adjacent to North Dakota by total retirement plan assets.
Two DOL Form 5500-derived peer sets for North Dakota, 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 (359 here).
Nearest other states by aggregate plan assets ($21.5B here).
Concentration reading
Ways to act on North Dakota'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 Dakota, 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.