PBGC Pension Benefits by State

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has released information on the pension plan benefits it paid in 2015 by state.

The PBGC in 2015 paid out benefits of more than $5.6 billion to approximately 840,000 retirees in the United States. It paid $100 million or more to retirees in each of 17 states; the top 10 were:

1. Ohio: $534, 819,717 paid to 79,050 retirees
2. Pennsylvania: $470,578,884 paid to 80,519 retirees
3. Florida: $405,277,169 paid to $56,698 retirees
4. Michigan: $384,057,034 paid to 47,516 retirees
5. California: $345,266,149 paid to 42,506 retirees
6. New York: $323,546,631 paid to 49,783 retirees
7. Illinois: $304,961,436 paid to 43,296 retirees
8. Indiana: $285,813,218 paid to 32,586 retirees
9. North Carolina: $187,799,000 paid to 42,337 retirees
10. Georgia: $176,512,369 paid to 30,681

The five states where the PBGC paid the least in retiree benefits in 2015 were the following:

46. Montana: $5,776,955 paid to 658 retirees
47. South Dakota: $4,260,687 paid to 609 retirees
48. Alaska: $4,087,170 paid to 633 retirees
49. Wyoming: $3,319,413 paid to 385 retirees
50. North Dakota: $545,400 paid to 137 retirees

Nine of the 10 states where the PBGC paid the most also are among the 10 most populous, and four of the five where it paid the least are among the five least populated.

The PBGC provides information on each state through a clickable map and lists the total amount of benefits it provided and number of people it paid in each state, broken down by congressional district.