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 Virginia report the totals below.
Data updated 2026-08-25
$466.2B across 3,655 plans
According to DOL Form 5500 filings (plan year 2024), Virginia has 3,655 employer-sponsored retirement plans holding $466.2B in total assets for 2,858,824 participants, ranking 9th nationally by plan assets, with 75% structured as 401(k)s and an average of $128M per plan.
The state in one line
Virginia hosts 3,655 employer-sponsored retirement plans holding $466.2B for 2,858,824 participants, the 9th-largest state by plan assets.
Virginia: 3,655 employer-sponsored plans (2,746 401(k)), $466.2B aggregate assets, 2,858,824 participants. Average plan: $128M; largest is Northrop Grumman Savings Plan at $39.5B. Leading sector by assets: Manufacturing (35%). These figures aggregate the 3,655 Form 5500 filings Virginia sponsors submitted for plan year 2024, counted by sponsor headquarters rather than participant residence; a plan administered in Virginia 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 $161.0B across 305 filings, ahead of Professional & Technical Services at $106.2B. 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 $6.7B. 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
Virginia sits in the top decile of U.S. states by Form 5500 plan assets (#9 of 56), so national rankings and peer comparisons are the useful next read.
DOL Form 5500 plan year 2024
Virginia's place in the national asset distribution
All states with reported Form 5500 plan assets · plan year 2024
$466,246,023,351 Top 14% higher than 86% 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 | 305 | $161.0B |
| Professional & Technical Services | 1,117 | $106.2B |
| Utilities | 22 | $43.5B |
| Healthcare & Social Assistance | 376 | $24.5B |
| Construction | 243 | $23.8B |
States ranked adjacent to Virginia by total retirement plan assets.
Two DOL Form 5500-derived peer sets for Virginia, 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 (3,655 here).
Nearest other states by aggregate plan assets ($466.2B here).
Industry-mix reading
Ways to act on Virginia's numbers.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, EBSA Form 5500 public disclosure dataset. Shows the top 25 plans by total assets headquartered in Virginia, 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.