Let’s take a look inside the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS) and what makes it one of the largest and best retirement systems in the United States.
NYSLRS administers two distinct systems. They are:
- The Employees’ Retirement System (ERS) with 677,604 members; and
- The Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS) with 36,198 members.
In addition, NYSLRS provides pension benefits to more than 520,000 retirees and beneficiaries. Altogether, that’s more than 1.2 million participants!
New York State Common Retirement Fund
State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli is administrative head of NYSLRS and trustee of the New York State Common Retirement Fund, which was valued at $267.4 billion as of March 31, 2024. The Fund is widely recognized as one of the best-managed and best-funded public pension plans in the nation. Since its establishment in 1921, the Fund’s prudent investment management, solid returns, and constitutionally protected benefits have provided retirement security for generations of hard-working New Yorkers.
NYSLRS Members
How did NYSLRS earn the distinction of being one of the largest systems? Here are some facts about NYSLRS members:
- 527,404 active members (that is, members still on the public payroll) work for 2,988 public employers statewide.
- About one-third of those active members work for New York State. The rest work for counties, cities, towns, villages, school districts and public authorities.
- Nearly 94 percent of total active members are in ERS while only 6 percent of total active members are in PFRS.
- Tier 6 is our largest benefit group, with more than 60 percent of all members (62.6 percent in ERS, 56 percent in PFRS).
- In ERS, Tiers 3 and 4 are the second largest benefit group, with 33.1 percent of members.
- While, in PFRS, Tier 2 is the second largest benefit group, with 38.7 percent of members.
For more information about our largest ERS tiers, see our blog posts, ERS Tier 6 Milestones and ERS Tiers 3 and 4 Milestones. You can also learn more about the PFRS Milestones our police and fire fighters across New York State will reach over the course of their careers.
NYSLRS Retirees and Beneficiaries
The average pension for an ERS retiree was $27,870; the average for a PFRS retiree was $62,391. But these pension payments don’t just benefit retirees and beneficiaries. During 2022, approximately 78 percent of retirees lived in New York State and were responsible for $17.3 billion in economic activity. By supporting local businesses, helping to create jobs and paying their fair share of taxes, NYSLRS retirees contribute to the economic health of our communities.
Learn More About NYSLRS
Detailed information about NYSLRS members, retirees and beneficiaries as well as the Fund’s position and performance can be found in the 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report.
Note: All data is as of the State fiscal year end, March 31, 2024.
All well and great too bad they can’t figure out how to do a final calculation within the first three and a half years after you retire
NYS Retirement is well managed. Of course, I would like to know why benefits promised when I joined in 1983 have been incrementally lowered since then. I joined in 1983, and retirement was your highest 3-year average, and 2% for every 1 year of service credit. Now, any year cannot be more than 10% higher than the average of the preceding 2-year average. While I understand why, with some who pile on the overtime to boost the benefit, many of us do not get overtime, just a flat salary. Also, if my time credit works out to, say 1.25 years in a given year, I only get 1.00 year of credit. However, if I work .98% of a year, I get .98-year of credit. The biggest issue I am concerned with is the cutting of the 2% credit per year of service to 1.5% after 30 years. If anything, it should be more because someone with 30+ years of experience is more valuable than someone in their first year of service.
NYSLRS benefits are established by laws enacted by the State Legislature and the Governor, and NYSLRS administers benefits in accordance with State law.
Boiler plate answer. My question was: Why the incremental changes to lower promised benefits? I view the retirement system as a contract between employer/employee. If one side gets to change the contract without agreement from the other side, it appears to me the contract has been breached.
Could you explain why the System does not pay COLA for the first five years and how the COLA is calculated relative to actual increases in the cost of living?
Thank you
NYSLRS benefits, including COLA, are established by laws enacted by the State Legislature and the Governor, and NYSLRS administers benefits in accordance with State law.
To learn how COLA is calculated, please visit our Cost-of-Living Adjustment webpage.
I have been retired over 4 years….still waiting for a recalculation ….What is going on?
NYSLRS is working hard to complete recalculations and to provide retroactive payments as quickly as possible. We apologize for the length of time this is taking for you. We are working to improve our service in this area and we thank you for your patience.