Plan Data | Public Plans Data

Atlanta ERS Basics

Established 1927
Currently open to new hires
Plan covers local employees
Plan members not covered by Social Security
Single employer

Assets, Participants, and Benefits

State and local government pension benefits are paid from trust funds to which public employees and their employers contributed while they were working, not from general operating revenues. Trust fund assets are invested and grow over time. The combined value of defined benefit plan assets held by state and local governments as of Q2 2021 increased to $5.7 trillion, from $4.5 trillion as of Q2 2020 (Federal Reserve Flow of Funds, March 2023). PPD data covers the period from 2001 to the most recently available plan reports, and the historical charts presented in this page mirror the period for which PPD data are available.

Assets at Year-End, Atlanta ERS, 2001-2021

Fiscal Year	Net Assets (billions)
2001	null
2002	0.60
2003	0.67
2004	0.74
2005	0.78
2006	0.77
2007	0.83
2008	0.83
2009	0.78
2010	0.85
2011	0.96
2012	1.03
2013	1.13
2014	1.27
2015	1.28
2016	1.25
2017	1.37
2018	1.46
2019	1.50
2020	1.50
2021	1.91

Source: Public Plans Database

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State and local employees make up 13.8 percent of the US workforce. About 25 percent of public sector workers are covered by a public pension in lieu of Social Security, including nearly half of all teachers and over two-thirds of firefighters and public safety officers. Public employees live in every city and county in the nation; more than 90 percent retire in the same jurisdiction where they worked. PPD data covers the period from 2001 to the most recently available plan reports, and the historical charts presented in this page mirror the period for which PPD data are available.

Number of Actives per Annuitant, 2001-2021

Fiscal Year	Atlanta ERS	US State and Local Pensions
2001	null	2.4
2002	null	2.3
2003	null	2.2
2004	1.2	2.1
2005	1.1	2.1
2006	1.1	2.0
2007	1.1	2.0
2008	1.3	1.9
2009	1.0	1.9
2010	0.9	1.8
2011	0.8	1.7
2012	0.8	1.6
2013	0.8	1.5
2014	0.9	1.4
2015	0.9	1.4
2016	0.9	1.4
2017	1.0	1.4
2018	1.0	1.3
2019	0.9	1.3
2020	1.0	1.3
2021	0.9	1.2

Source: Public Plans Database

National data averages are weighted by plan size.

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2021 Membership for Atlanta ERS

Actives	Beneficiaries	Total Membership
3,757	3,970	6,771

Source: Public Plans Database

Costs

The Annual Required Contribution (ARC) is the amount needed to finance benefits accrued each year, plus the cost to amortize unfunded liabilities from past years, minus required employee contributions. It is a projection that matches a yearly payment amount to a particular amortization period, taking into consideration an assortment of assumptions adopted by the plan. In practice, all plans do not calculate the ARC in the same manner. Assumptions used to calculate the ARC reflect actual plan experience, including investment return , actuarial cost, salary growth, total payroll growth and mortality, as well as an adopted amortization method. These assumptions and methods will differ from one plan another, so caution should be taken when comparing ARC between plans. PPD data covers the period from 2001 to the most recently available plan reports, and the historical charts presented in this page mirror the period for which PPD data are available.

Employer's Annual Required Contribution as a Percentage of Payroll and Portion Paid for Atlanta ERS, 2008-2021

Fiscal Year	Portion of Employer ARC paid	US Avg Employer ARC	ARC as a Percent of Payroll
2008	39.1	12.9	38.4
2009	46.6	14.4	46.6
2010	36.3	15.5	36.3
2011	34.0	16.3	34.0
2012	25.3	17.9	25.3
2013	29.1	20.2	29.1
2014	29.6	20.5	29.6
2015	31.7	20.2	31.7
2016	31.7	20.9	31.7
2017	31.1	19.6	31.1
2018	27.5	20.6	27.5
2019	25.0	20.7	25.0
2020	23.4	21.4	23.4
2021	24.9	21.8	24.9

Note: The employer's annual required contribution as a percent of payroll is calculated by dividing the dollar amount reported in the schedule of employer contributions by the covered payroll reported in the schedule of funding. The U.S. Average Employer data reflects the average for plans of similar type and social Security coverage to the plan.

Source: Public Plans Database

National data averages are weighted by plan size.

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Actuarial Funding

While funded ratios among pension plans vary substantially, in the aggregate, public pension funding levels rose steadily during the 1990s, due largely to strong returns in global equity markets. Since then, sharp market downturns in 2000-02 and 2008-09 negatively affected asset values and increased unfunded pension liabilities and required contributions. A combination of the market downturns, insufficient contributions (for some plans), and increased benefit levels (also for some plans) resulted in a decline in aggregate funding level between 2001 and 2012, and has since remained relatively stable.

Actuarial Funded Ratio for Atlanta ERS, 2001-2021

Fiscal Year	Atlanta ERS	National Data
2001	68.5	101.7
2002	67.0	95.2
2003	61.3	89.0
2004	59.6	87.2
2005	52.6	85.4
2006	55.5	85.3
2007	52.2	86.3
2008	55.9	84.4
2009	59.5	78.4
2010	53.7	75.7
2011	51.2	74.3
2012	51.0	72.3
2013	51.2	71.9
2014	55.5	73.2
2015	57.8	73.2
2016	60.4	71.6
2017	67.0	72.1
2018	68.1	72.4
2019	69.4	72.5
2020	68.0	72.7
2021	72.4	75.7

Source: Public Plans Database

National data averages are weighted by plan size.

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Investments

The major asset allocation classes presented in the PPD are generated from the specific asset classes that plans report. For consistent reporting in the PPD, the individual asset classes reported by plans are categorized as one of eight major asset classes: equity, fixed income, real estate, private equity, hedge funds, commodities, misc. alternative assets, cash, and other. For more details on the PPD allocation data please see documentation.

Asset Allocation for Atlanta ERS, 2021

Category	Percent
Equities	73.6
Fixed Income	21.2
Private Equity	0.0
Real Estate	2.6
Cash	1.6
Other	0.0
Commodities	0.0
Hedge Fund	0.0
Misc. Alternatives	1.0

Source: Public Plans Database

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Asset Allocation for State and Local Pensions, 2021

Category	Percent
Equities	47.1
Fixed Income	21.6
Private Equity	11.3
Real Estate	8.0
Cash	2.1
Other	0.6
Commodities	1.9
Hedge Fund	5.8
Misc. Alternatives	1.6

Note: The most recent year of data contains virtually all the plans in the PPD.

Source: Public Plans Database

National data averages are weighted by plan size.

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Asset allocation for Atlanta ERS, 2001-2021

Fiscal Year	Equities	Fixed Income	Private Equity	Real Estate	Cash	Other	Commodities	Hedge Fund	Misc. Alternatives
2001	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null
2002	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null
2003	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null
2004	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null
2005	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null
2006	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null
2007	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null
2008	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null
2009	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null
2010	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null
2011	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null
2012	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null
2013	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null
2014	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null
2015	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null
2016	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null	null
2017	66.0	19.4	0.0	0.0	2.6	0.0	0.0	7.5	4.5
2018	65.1	20.8	0.0	0.0	1.1	7.7	0.0	0.0	5.3
2019	73.4	19.0	0.0	2.8	3.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.6
2020	77.5	16.1	0.0	2.4	2.8	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.2
2021	73.6	21.2	0.0	2.6	1.6	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0

Source: Public Plans Database

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Annual Return as of June 30 for Atlanta ERS, 2001-2021

Fiscal Year	Atlanta ERS	Assumed return
2001	-1.86	8.00
2002	-7.67	8.00
2003	15.12	8.00
2004	10.24	8.00
2005	0.90	8.00
2006	0.06	8.00
2007	9.06	8.00
2008	-13.98	8.00
2009	17.62	8.00
2010	14.65	8.00
2011	1.02	8.00
2012	13.80	8.00
2013	16.32	7.50
2014	8.36	7.50
2015	-0.26	7.50
2016	8.33	7.50
2017	13.32	7.25
2018	10.27	7.25
2019	6.09	7.25
2020	3.56	7.00
2021	13.80	7.00

Note: The PPD average is for plans with a similar fiscal year end (FYE) date to the plan presented on this page. The FYE date for the majority of plans is either June 30th or December 31st. Those with FYE dates that do not fall on either of those two dates are compared with the June 30th plans. The PPD average return includes plans that report gross returns and returns net of fees.

Source: Public Plans Database

National data averages are weighted by plan size.

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Annualized 5-Year Return

Atlanta ERS	PPD Sample
12.5	11.3

Annualized 10-Year Return

Atlanta ERS	PPD Sample
11.3	9.1

Cash Flows

Cash Flow vs. Total Assets (Millions)
Atlanta ERS
2001-2021

Fiscal Year	Cash Flow	Assets
2001	null	null
2002	-16.5	601.7
2003	-20.8	673.2
2004	-8.7	741.1
2005	3.1	775.9
2006	-1.5	774.9
2007	0.4	830.3
2008	5.9	828.6
2009	2.3	782.4
2010	-28.7	850.6
2011	-36.9	963.5
2012	-66.7	1,027.8
2013	-61.4	1,129.9
2014	-65.0	1,274.7
2015	-52.8	1,284.8
2016	-45.5	1,246.7
2017	-46.8	1,368.8
2018	-48.1	1,456.1
2019	-39.2	1,502.9
2020	-56.1	1,499.6
2021	-54.4	1,909.7

Source: Public Plans Database

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2021 Cash Flows for Atlanta ERS (millions)

Inflows	Outflows	Investment Gains (losses)	Change in Net Assets
128.2	182.5	464.4	410.1

Source: Public Plans Database

Note: The PPD average is for plans with a similar fiscal year end (FYE) date to the plan presented on this page.

Cash Flow as a Percentage of Assets
Atlanta ERS
2001-2021

Fiscal Year	Atlanta ERS	National Average
2001	null	-2.0
2002	-2.7	-2.4
2003	-3.1	-2.6
2004	-1.2	-1.8
2005	0.4	-2.2
2006	-0.2	-2.2
2007	0.0	-2.0
2008	0.7	-2.2
2009	0.3	-3.1
2010	-3.4	-3.2
2011	-3.8	-3.0
2012	-6.5	-3.2
2013	-5.4	-3.2
2014	-5.1	-2.9
2015	-4.1	-2.7
2016	-3.6	-2.9
2017	-3.4	-2.8
2018	-3.3	-2.4
2019	-2.6	-2.4
2020	-3.7	-2.3
2021	-2.8	-2.0

Note: The PPD average is for plans with a similar fiscal year end (FYE) date to the plan presented on this page.

Source: Public Plans Database

National data averages are weighted by plan size.

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2021 Financial Reports

Benefits

Website for Atlanta ERS benefit descriptions.

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Plan Data: Atlanta ERS

Atlanta ERS Basics

Assets, Participants, and Benefits

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2021 Membership for Atlanta ERS

Costs

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Actuarial Funding

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Investments

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Annualized 5-Year Return

Annualized 10-Year Return

Cash Flows

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2021 Cash Flows for Atlanta ERS (millions)

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2021 Financial Reports

Benefits

Contact information (OPTIONAL)