Public Pensions in Washington

In Washington, there are eight state-administered public retirement systems for state and local government employees, with 15 different plans within those systems. These systems serve more than 900,000 current and former public employees. The retirement benefits they earn result in nearly eight billion in payments each year, most of which is distributed within the state.

Washington has been a national leader in designing and maintaining sustainable public pension plans. More than 30 years ago, the state undertook a comprehensive reform of its pension plans to provide reasonable benefits while maintaining healthy funding status for the plans. More recently, the state was one of the first to use hybrid defined contribution/defined benefit plans.

These reforms and innovations, combined with progressive investment policies, have resulted in Washington’s system of public pensions being consistently ranked among the best-funded of any state in the country.

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