Plan Data | Public Plans Data

DC Teachers Basics

Established 1979
Currently open to new hires
Plan covers teachers
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 2022 decreased to $5.3 trillion, from $5.7 trillion as of Q2 2021 (Federal Reserve Flow of Funds, June 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, DC Teachers, 2001-2022

Fiscal Year	Net Assets (billions)
2001	0.78
2002	0.73
2003	0.87
2004	0.99
2005	1.14
2006	1.28
2007	1.52
2008	1.26
2009	1.20
2010	1.32
2011	1.34
2012	1.50
2013	1.62
2014	1.75
2015	1.67
2016	1.82
2017	2.07
2018	2.18
2019	2.26
2020	2.41
2021	2.94
2022	2.57

Source: Public Plans Database

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State and local employees make up around 10-15 percent of the US workforce. About a quarter 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, 2001-2022

Fiscal Year	DC Teachers	US State and Local Pensions
2001	8.1	2.4
2002	6.2	2.3
2003	4.2	2.2
2004	3.2	2.1
2005	2.8	2.1
2006	2.3	2.0
2007	2.1	2.0
2008	2.0	1.9
2009	1.7	1.9
2010	1.6	1.8
2011	1.5	1.7
2012	1.4	1.6
2013	1.3	1.5
2014	1.2	1.4
2015	1.3	1.4
2016	1.3	1.4
2017	1.3	1.4
2018	1.3	1.3
2019	1.3	1.3
2020	1.4	1.3
2021	1.5	1.2
2022	1.5	1.2

Source: Public Plans Database

National data averages are weighted by plan size.

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2022 Membership for DC Teachers

Actives	Beneficiaries	Total Membership
6,088	4,065	11,871

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 DC Teachers, 2001-2022

Fiscal Year	Portion of Employer ARC paid	US Avg Employer ARC	ARC as a Percent of Payroll
2001	2.1	9.3	2.1
2002	0.3	9.8	0.3
2003	0.0	11.4	0.0
2004	0.9	14.0	0.9
2005	3.1	14.4	3.1
2006	4.9	14.5	4.9
2007	4.5	14.6	4.5
2008	1.7	14.1	1.7
2009	0.0	14.4	0.0
2010	0.0	17.2	0.0
2011	0.0	18.4	0.0
2012	0.0	20.4	0.0
2013	1.7	21.0	1.7
2014	8.3	20.3	8.3
2015	9.5	20.5	9.5
2016	10.2	20.3	10.2
2017	12.7	21.4	12.7
2018	12.5	23.1	12.5
2019	10.3	24.6	10.3
2020	10.7	24.5	10.7
2021	11.7	24.0	11.7
2022	12.3	24.3	12.3

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 DC Teachers, 2001-2022

Fiscal Year	DC Teachers	National Data
2001	null	101.7
2002	null	94.8
2003	null	89.0
2004	null	87.2
2005	null	85.4
2006	111.2	85.3
2007	111.6	86.3
2008	108.2	84.4
2009	110.8	78.4
2010	118.3	75.7
2011	101.9	74.3
2012	94.4	72.3
2013	90.1	71.9
2014	88.6	73.2
2015	88.7	73.2
2016	90.9	71.6
2017	92.5	72.1
2018	93.0	72.4
2019	91.1	72.5
2020	92.1	72.7
2021	99.5	76.2
2022	98.8	77.1

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 DC Teachers, 2022

Category	Percent
Equities	45.0
Fixed Income	28.0
Private Equity	11.0
Real Estate	8.0
Cash	1.0
Other	0.0
Commodities	6.0
Hedge Fund	1.0
Misc. Alternatives	0.0

Source: Public Plans Database

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Asset Allocation for State and Local Pensions, 2022

Category	Percent
Equities	42.7
Fixed Income	20.8
Private Equity	13.0
Real Estate	10.2
Cash	2.1
Other	0.6
Commodities	2.3
Hedge Fund	6.5
Misc. Alternatives	1.8

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 DC Teachers, 2001-2022

Fiscal Year	Equities	Fixed Income	Private Equity	Real Estate	Cash	Commodities	Hedge Fund
2001	53.6	34.9	0.0	0.0	11.6	0.0	0.0
2002	53.2	41.6	3.9	0.1	1.2	0.0	0.0
2003	64.1	31.7	3.0	0.0	1.2	0.0	0.0
2004	67.6	28.3	2.8	0.0	1.3	0.0	0.0
2005	69.9	24.7	3.0	1.6	0.8	0.0	0.0
2006	68.3	22.4	5.1	4.0	0.2	0.0	0.0
2007	68.9	19.5	6.2	5.2	0.2	0.0	0.0
2008	55.5	23.4	13.3	7.6	0.2	0.0	0.0
2009	54.4	25.3	13.3	5.2	1.8	0.0	0.0
2010	54.5	24.2	14.5	4.5	2.3	0.0	0.0
2011	48.0	27.5	9.8	4.9	1.0	2.0	6.9
2012	52.0	27.0	8.0	0.0	1.0	7.0	5.0
2013	52.9	28.0	7.0	0.0	1.0	6.0	5.1
2014	54.0	29.9	5.9	0.0	0.2	5.6	4.4
2015	52.2	30.8	5.2	0.0	0.9	6.2	4.7
2016	54.9	29.7	4.5	0.0	0.4	6.5	4.0
2017	52.9	30.4	4.0	0.0	0.8	8.1	3.8
2018	52.9	30.4	4.0	0.0	0.8	8.1	3.8
2019	54.0	32.0	5.0	0.0	1.0	8.0	0.0
2020	53.2	32.4	6.6	0.0	0.0	7.8	0.0
2021	49.0	30.0	8.0	7.0	1.0	3.0	2.0
2022	45.0	28.0	11.0	8.0	1.0	6.0	1.0

Source: Public Plans Database

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Annual Return as of September 30 for DC Teachers, 2001-2022

Fiscal Year	DC Teachers	Assumed return
2001	-11.70	7.25
2002	-7.90	7.25
2003	16.30	7.25
2004	11.90	7.25
2005	13.90	7.25
2006	10.40	7.25
2007	16.80	7.50
2008	-16.90	7.00
2009	-2.20	7.00
2010	10.30	7.00
2011	2.90	7.00
2012	14.50	6.50
2013	11.30	6.50
2014	8.40	6.50
2015	-3.90	6.50
2016	9.40	6.50
2017	13.10	6.50
2018	5.40	6.50
2019	3.90	6.50
2020	5.40	6.50
2021	20.90	6.25
2022	-12.50	6.25

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

DC Teachers	PPD Sample
4.0	8.3

Annualized 10-Year Return

DC Teachers	PPD Sample
5.7	8.6

Cash Flows

Cash Flow vs. Total Assets (Millions)
DC Teachers
2001-2022

Fiscal Year	Cash Flow	Assets
2001	20.8	778.8
2002	20.6	733.4
2003	20.0	874.7
2004	16.7	994.3
2005	10.9	1,142.5
2006	16.5	1,279.1
2007	13.4	1,517.8
2008	-1.7	1,257.8
2009	-16.3	1,204.4
2010	-13.4	1,317.5
2011	-21.7	1,340.7
2012	-27.9	1,503.5
2013	-50.0	1,622.4
2014	-9.0	1,746.0
2015	-3.1	1,670.6
2016	-2.0	1,821.9
2017	8.2	2,070.6
2018	10.3	2,176.1
2019	2.4	2,264.5
2020	7.2	2,411.4
2021	19.2	2,944.9
2022	16.9	2,572.9

Source: Public Plans Database

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2022 Cash Flows for DC Teachers (millions)

Inflows	Outflows	Investment Gains (losses)	Change in Net Assets
122.0	105.1	-388.8	-372.0

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
DC Teachers
2001-2022

Fiscal Year	DC Teachers	National Average
2001	2.7	-2.2
2002	2.8	-2.6
2003	2.3	-2.5
2004	1.7	-2.6
2005	1.0	-2.2
2006	1.3	-2.2
2007	0.9	-2.3
2008	-0.1	-2.9
2009	-1.4	-3.2
2010	-1.0	-3.2
2011	-1.6	-3.4
2012	-1.9	-3.3
2013	-3.1	-3.1
2014	-0.5	-2.9
2015	-0.2	-3.1
2016	-0.1	-3.2
2017	0.4	-2.9
2018	0.5	-3.1
2019	0.1	-3.1
2020	0.3	-2.8
2021	0.7	-2.5
2022	0.7	-2.9

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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2022 Financial Reports

Benefits

Website for DC Teachers benefit descriptions.

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Plan Data: DC Teachers

DC Teachers Basics

Assets, Participants, and Benefits

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2022 Membership for DC Teachers

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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2022 Cash Flows for DC Teachers (millions)

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2022 Financial Reports

Benefits

Contact information (OPTIONAL)