Plan Data | Public Plans Data

Phoenix ERS Basics

Established 1953
Currently open to new hires
Plan covers local employees
Plan members 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, Phoenix ERS, 2001-2022

Fiscal Year	Net Assets (billions)
2001	1.35
2002	1.24
2003	1.26
2004	1.45
2005	1.55
2006	1.67
2007	1.93
2008	1.81
2009	1.41
2010	1.54
2011	1.82
2012	1.80
2013	1.96
2014	2.22
2015	2.21
2016	2.15
2017	2.35
2018	2.55
2019	2.66
2020	2.68
2021	3.44
2022	3.24

Source: Public Plans Database

Download chart data

Embed chart on your website

Copy this code into your HTML Editor, Blog Post or CMS.

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	Phoenix ERS	US State and Local Pensions
2001	2.6	2.4
2002	2.6	2.3
2003	2.5	2.2
2004	2.4	2.1
2005	2.3	2.1
2006	2.3	2.0
2007	2.3	2.0
2008	2.2	1.9
2009	2.0	1.9
2010	1.8	1.8
2011	1.7	1.7
2012	1.5	1.6
2013	1.4	1.5
2014	1.2	1.4
2015	1.1	1.4
2016	1.1	1.4
2017	1.2	1.4
2018	1.1	1.3
2019	1.1	1.3
2020	1.1	1.3
2021	1.1	1.2
2022	1.0	1.2

Source: Public Plans Database

National data averages are weighted by plan size.

Download chart data

Embed chart on your website

Copy this code into your HTML Editor, Blog Post or CMS.

2022 Membership for Phoenix ERS

Actives	Beneficiaries	Total Membership
7,938	7,780	16,827

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 Phoenix ERS, 2001-2022

Fiscal Year	Portion of Employer ARC paid	Portion of Employer ARC left unpaid	US Avg Employer ARC	ARC as a Percent of Payroll
2001	5.9	0.0	5.3	5.9
2002	7.0	0.0	5.2	7.0
2003	6.7	0.0	6.0	6.7
2004	8.9	0.0	7.7	8.9
2005	9.3	0.0	9.6	9.3
2006	10.7	0.0	9.9	10.7
2007	10.9	0.0	10.6	10.9
2008	11.3	0.0	11.0	11.3
2009	12.3	0.0	11.0	12.3
2010	15.7	0.0	11.6	15.7
2011	17.7	0.0	13.4	17.7
2012	20.9	0.0	14.0	20.9
2013	21.7	0.0	15.1	21.7
2014	21.7	4.9	15.6	26.6
2015	24.2	0.0	16.1	24.2
2016	24.1	0.0	16.1	24.1
2017	29.2	0.0	16.4	29.2
2018	28.9	1.3	18.8	30.2
2019	29.4	0.0	17.8	29.4
2020	30.9	0.0	19.5	30.9
2021	61.5	0.0	19.6	30.7
2022	29.9	0.0	19.9	28.2

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.

Download chart data

Embed chart on your website

Copy this code into your HTML Editor, Blog Post or CMS.

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 Phoenix ERS, 2001-2022

Fiscal Year	Phoenix ERS	National Data
2001	102.5	101.7
2002	91.6	94.8
2003	88.5	89.0
2004	84.2	87.2
2005	84.2	85.4
2006	81.3	85.3
2007	83.9	86.3
2008	79.1	84.4
2009	75.3	78.4
2010	69.3	75.7
2011	66.7	74.3
2012	62.2	72.3
2013	64.2	71.9
2014	58.7	73.2
2015	55.4	73.2
2016	57.3	71.6
2017	58.2	72.1
2018	60.6	72.4
2019	60.8	72.5
2020	63.7	72.7
2021	70.7	76.2
2022	71.2	77.1

Source: Public Plans Database

National data averages are weighted by plan size.

Download chart data

Embed chart on your website

Copy this code into your HTML Editor, Blog Post or CMS.

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 Phoenix ERS, 2022

Category	Percent
Equities	36.5
Fixed Income	24.7
Private Equity	8.1
Real Estate	18.3
Cash	5.1
Other	0.0
Commodities	0.0
Hedge Fund	7.2
Misc. Alternatives	0.0

Source: Public Plans Database

Download chart data

Embed chart on your website

Copy this code into your HTML Editor, Blog Post or CMS.

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.

Download chart data

Embed chart on your website

Copy this code into your HTML Editor, Blog Post or CMS.

Asset allocation for Phoenix ERS, 2001-2022

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	43.2	22.9	0.4	12.7	1.7	0.0	7.5	11.7	0.0
2016	42.3	22.6	1.7	14.6	0.2	0.0	7.4	11.2	0.0
2017	44.4	19.9	3.3	13.4	0.7	0.0	7.4	10.9	0.0
2018	44.1	29.7	4.4	13.5	3.5	0.0	0.0	4.8	0.0
2019	36.3	32.6	5.7	13.4	1.3	0.0	0.0	10.6	0.0
2020	35.8	32.7	6.2	13.4	2.1	0.0	0.0	9.9	0.0
2021	42.8	26.4	6.9	13.1	3.7	0.0	0.0	7.0	0.0
2022	36.5	24.7	8.1	18.3	5.1	0.0	0.0	7.2	0.0

Source: Public Plans Database

Download chart data

Embed chart on your website

Copy this code into your HTML Editor, Blog Post or CMS.

Annual Return as of June 30 for Phoenix ERS, 2001-2022

Fiscal Year	Phoenix ERS	Assumed return
2001	-1.40	8.00
2002	-6.40	8.00
2003	3.30	8.00
2004	16.00	8.00
2005	8.60	8.00
2006	9.00	8.00
2007	16.50	8.00
2008	-5.10	8.00
2009	-20.40	8.00
2010	10.30	8.00
2011	21.30	8.00
2012	-0.18	8.00
2013	11.35	8.00
2014	15.88	7.50
2015	2.64	7.50
2016	0.90	7.50
2017	11.50	7.25
2018	7.10	7.25
2019	6.20	7.25
2020	1.40	7.00
2021	22.80	7.00
2022	-4.70	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.

Download chart data

Embed chart on your website

Copy this code into your HTML Editor, Blog Post or CMS.

Annualized 5-Year Return

Phoenix ERS	PPD Sample
6.1	7.8

Annualized 10-Year Return

Phoenix ERS	PPD Sample
7.0	8.5

Cash Flows

Cash Flow vs. Total Assets (Millions)
Phoenix ERS
2001-2022

Fiscal Year	Cash Flow	Assets
2001	-15.8	1,346.9
2002	-14.0	1,244.4
2003	-18.8	1,262.5
2004	-15.4	1,445.7
2005	-16.4	1,549.6
2006	-13.0	1,670.6
2007	-12.1	1,930.5
2008	-13.8	1,810.7
2009	-25.7	1,409.6
2010	-17.4	1,535.2
2011	-26.7	1,824.2
2012	-22.9	1,795.7
2013	-31.0	1,960.0
2014	-36.3	2,222.2
2015	-59.9	2,209.5
2016	-67.3	2,151.4
2017	-41.0	2,353.6
2018	34.4	2,554.5
2019	-37.3	2,660.1
2020	-29.4	2,681.2
2021	146.3	3,438.0
2022	-33.6	3,242.7

Source: Public Plans Database

Download chart data

Embed chart on your website

Copy this code into your HTML Editor, Blog Post or CMS.

2022 Cash Flows for Phoenix ERS (millions)

Inflows	Outflows	Investment Gains (losses)	Change in Net Assets
233.8	267.3	-161.8	-195.3

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
Phoenix ERS
2001-2022

Fiscal Year	Phoenix ERS	National Average
2001	-1.2	-2.0
2002	-1.1	-2.4
2003	-1.5	-2.6
2004	-1.1	-1.8
2005	-1.1	-2.2
2006	-0.8	-2.2
2007	-0.6	-2.0
2008	-0.8	-2.2
2009	-1.8	-3.1
2010	-1.1	-3.2
2011	-1.5	-3.0
2012	-1.3	-3.2
2013	-1.6	-3.1
2014	-1.6	-2.9
2015	-2.7	-2.7
2016	-3.1	-2.9
2017	-1.7	-2.8
2018	1.3	-2.4
2019	-1.4	-2.4
2020	-1.1	-2.3
2021	4.3	-2.0
2022	-1.0	-1.9

Note: Increase in 2018 cash flow is primarily driven by a one-time voluntary contribution of $70,000 by the City and increased Tier 3 contributions related to increased hiring.

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.

Download chart data

Embed chart on your website

Copy this code into your HTML Editor, Blog Post or CMS.

2022 Financial Reports

Benefits

Website for Phoenix ERS benefit descriptions.

Advanced Search

Plan Data: Phoenix ERS

Phoenix ERS Basics

Assets, Participants, and Benefits

Copy this code into your HTML Editor, Blog Post or CMS.

Copy this code into your HTML Editor, Blog Post or CMS.

2022 Membership for Phoenix ERS

Costs

Copy this code into your HTML Editor, Blog Post or CMS.

Actuarial Funding

Copy this code into your HTML Editor, Blog Post or CMS.

Investments

Copy this code into your HTML Editor, Blog Post or CMS.

Copy this code into your HTML Editor, Blog Post or CMS.

Copy this code into your HTML Editor, Blog Post or CMS.

Copy this code into your HTML Editor, Blog Post or CMS.

Annualized 5-Year Return

Annualized 10-Year Return

Cash Flows

Copy this code into your HTML Editor, Blog Post or CMS.

2022 Cash Flows for Phoenix ERS (millions)

Copy this code into your HTML Editor, Blog Post or CMS.

2022 Financial Reports

Benefits

Contact information (OPTIONAL)