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The Illinois pension crisis refers to the rising gap between the pension benefits owed to eligible state employees and the amount of funding set aside by the state to make these future pension payments. As of 2020, the size of Illinois' pension obligation is $237B, but the state's pension funds have only $96B available for payouts to retirees.[1]
Illinois has the second highest unfunded pension ratio, after New Jersey. Illinois state budget contributions have fallen short of the increases in pension liabilities for 12 of the past 15 years, resulting in a three-fold increase in the funding gap.[2]
Illinois' pension obligations are made up of five pension plans for public sector employees. The plans, and their respective size and funding level, include:
State Pension Plan
Total Membership
Total Liability ($M)[2]
Funding ratio[2]
Teachers' Retirement System (TRS)
406,855[3]
$122,904
40%
State Employees Retirement System (SERS)
87,437[4]
$46,701
36%
State University Retirement System (SURS)
230,364[5]
$41,853
44%
Judges' Retirement System (JRS)
972[6]
$2,649
36%
General Assembly Retirement System (GARS)
470[7]
$371
15%
^"Illinois State Budget Fiscal Year 2022" (PDF). p. 167.
^ abcSpecial pension briefing cgfa.ilga.go
^Teachers' Retirement System trsil.org
^"State Retirement Systems of Illinois" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-07-31. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
^"Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-05-07. Retrieved 2018-05-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^"State Retirement Systems of Illinois" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-05-07. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
^"State Retirement Systems of Illinois" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-05-07. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
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