Retirement Plan Participation: High Variation Among Metro Areas

A recent survey highlights some stark differences in retirement plan access and participation among U.S. metropolitan areas.

“A Look at Access to Employer-Based Retirement Plans in the Nation’s Metropolitan Areas,” from the Pew Charitable Trust, focused on access to employer-provided retirement plans among workers in 104 U.S. metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.

Key findings include:

• Retirement plan access generally varies more among metropolitan areas than among states — from 71% in Grand Rapids, Mich. to 23% in McAllen, Texas.

• Metropolitan areas with low access rates are heavily concentrated in some large states: nearly 75% of the metro areas in the bottom quarter regarding retirement plan access are in the three most populous states — California, Texas and Florida (in descending order).

• Employer and worker characteristics appear to have great relevance in disparate access. For example, the number of people who work for small employers generally is higher in metropolitan areas with relatively low access.

These statistics take on added importance, says the Pew report, because 75% of full-time, full-year private sector workers — approximately 51 million people — live in metropolitan areas. In addition, notes the report, some industries whose workers have less access to employer-provided retirement plans tend to be concentrated in certain metropolitan areas.