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 West Virginia report the totals below.
Data updated 2026-08-25
$17.7B across 380 plans
According to DOL Form 5500 filings (plan year 2024), West Virginia has 380 employer-sponsored retirement plans holding $17.7B in total assets for 177,575 participants, ranking 45th nationally by plan assets, with 61% structured as 401(k)s and an average of $46M per plan.
The state in one line
West Virginia hosts 380 employer-sponsored retirement plans holding $17.7B for 177,575 participants, the 45th-largest state by plan assets.
West Virginia: 380 employer-sponsored plans (231 401(k)), $17.7B aggregate assets, 177,575 participants. Average plan: $46M; largest is West Virginia University Health System 403(b) Retirement Savings Plan at $1.8B. Leading sector by assets: Healthcare & Social Assistance (33%). These figures aggregate the 380 Form 5500 filings West Virginia sponsors submitted for plan year 2024, counted by sponsor headquarters rather than participant residence; a plan administered in West 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, Healthcare & Social Assistance accounts for $5.8B across 92 filings, ahead of Construction at $3.8B. 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
37 defined-benefit / pension filings (10% of plans here) hold $4.8B. That share is high enough to keep pension-vs-401(k) comparisons useful for this state, not just national averages.
DOL Form 5500 plan year 2024
West Virginia is a smaller Form 5500 host by plan assets (#45 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
West Virginia's place in the national asset distribution
All states with reported Form 5500 plan assets · plan year 2024
$17,668,381,875 21st percentile higher than 21% 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 | 92 | $5.8B |
| Construction | 42 | $3.8B |
| Professional & Technical Services | 45 | $2.2B |
| Educational Services | 14 | $1.1B |
| Finance & Insurance | 23 | $1.1B |
States ranked adjacent to West Virginia by total retirement plan assets.
Two DOL Form 5500-derived peer sets for West 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 (380 here).
Nearest other states by aggregate plan assets ($17.7B here).
Industry-mix reading
Ways to act on West 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 West 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.