The states with the most unfunded liabilities are California ($1.53 trillion), Illinois ($533.72 billion), Texas ($529.70 billion), New York ($508.70 billion) and Ohio ($429.53 billion). These five states alone account for more than $3.5 trillion in unfunded liabilities, or about 43% of all unfunded liabilities in the U.S.
The bottom 10 states make up $4.9 trillion, or 59.36% of all unfunded liabilities, according to the ALEC report. On a per capita basis, the bottom five state are Alaska ($42,829), Illinois ($41,656.79), Connecticut ($40,427.58), Hawaii ($39,939.43), New Jersey ($39,849.02) and California ($38,713.16).
"As state pension plans invest their funds in increasingly risky assets, the gap between expected rates of return and actual rates of return widens, with results falling far short of expectations," the authors of the report wrote. "When investment returns fail to meet expectations, taxpayers and plan members must make up the difference through increased contributions."
The states with the least unfunded pension liabilities were Vermont ($14.43 billion), South Dakota ($14.44 billion), North Dakota ($15.13 billion), Delaware ($18.46 billion) and Wyoming ($18.71 billion). On a per capita basis, the lowest were Tennessee ($8,511.92), Indiana ($10,188.66), Nebraska ($13,370.44), Florida ($14,062.16) and Idaho ($15,918.74).
No state in the U.S. has fully funded its pension plans. The state with the highest funding ratio in the nation is Wisconsin at 56% and New Jersey was the lowest at 18%.