{
  "schema_version": "1.0.0",
  "dashboard_release": "2",
  "prepared_at": "2026-09-01T00:00:00-04:00",
  "retrieved_at": "2026-09-01",
  "provenance_hierarchy": [
    "plan audited or actuarial record",
    "Census observation",
    "BEA or Federal Reserve standardized estimate",
    "dashboard calculation"
  ],
  "metrics": [
    {
      "metric_id": "aspp_total_assets_2025",
      "label": "Short- and long-term pension assets",
      "agency": "U.S. Census Bureau",
      "dataset": "2025 Annual Survey of Public Pensions",
      "source_url": "https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2026/2025-aspp.html",
      "reference_period": "2025",
      "release_vintage": "2026-05-14",
      "rights_class": "Federal public-use data",
      "status": "observed national estimate",
      "raw_value": 6490000000000,
      "unit": "current U.S. dollars",
      "revision_status": "current release",
      "comparison_validity": "National stock measure; not available cash and not a funded ratio."
    },
    {
      "metric_id": "aspp_participants_2025",
      "label": "Pension participants",
      "agency": "U.S. Census Bureau",
      "dataset": "2025 Annual Survey of Public Pensions",
      "source_url": "https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2026/2025-aspp.html",
      "reference_period": "2025",
      "release_vintage": "2026-05-14",
      "rights_class": "Federal public-use data",
      "status": "observed national estimate",
      "raw_value": ">37000000",
      "unit": "people",
      "revision_status": "current release",
      "comparison_validity": "Includes inactive employees eligible for future benefits."
    },
    {
      "metric_id": "aspp_total_contributions_2025",
      "label": "Employee and government contributions",
      "agency": "U.S. Census Bureau",
      "dataset": "2025 Annual Survey of Public Pensions",
      "source_url": "https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2026/2025-aspp.html",
      "reference_period": "2025",
      "release_vintage": "2026-05-14",
      "rights_class": "Federal public-use data",
      "status": "observed national estimate",
      "raw_value": 315020000000,
      "unit": "current U.S. dollars",
      "revision_status": "current release",
      "comparison_validity": "Contribution flow; not an actuarially determined contribution or employer cost rate."
    },
    {
      "metric_id": "aspp_benefit_payments_2025",
      "label": "Benefit payments",
      "agency": "U.S. Census Bureau",
      "dataset": "2025 Annual Survey of Public Pensions",
      "source_url": "https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2026/2025-aspp.html",
      "reference_period": "2025",
      "release_vintage": "2026-05-14",
      "rights_class": "Federal public-use data",
      "status": "observed national estimate",
      "raw_value": 418250000000,
      "unit": "current U.S. dollars",
      "revision_status": "current release",
      "comparison_validity": "Benefit flow to retirees and other beneficiaries; not total pension expenditure."
    },
    {
      "metric_id": "benefit_to_contribution_ratio_2025",
      "label": "Benefit-to-contribution ratio",
      "agency": "National Public Pension Dashboard",
      "dataset": "Derived from 2025 ASPP national totals",
      "source_url": "https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2026/2025-aspp.html",
      "reference_period": "2025",
      "release_vintage": "2026-05-14",
      "rights_class": "Dashboard calculation",
      "status": "derived",
      "transformation": "418.25 billion / 315.02 billion",
      "raw_value": 1.32769506698,
      "display_value": "1.33x",
      "unit": "ratio",
      "revision_status": "current inputs",
      "comparison_validity": "Maturity and cash-flow pressure indicator; not a total cash deficit or liquidity measure."
    },
    {
      "metric_id": "benefits_less_contributions_2025",
      "label": "Benefits less contributions",
      "agency": "National Public Pension Dashboard",
      "dataset": "Derived from 2025 ASPP national totals",
      "source_url": "https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2026/2025-aspp.html",
      "reference_period": "2025",
      "release_vintage": "2026-05-14",
      "rights_class": "Dashboard calculation",
      "status": "derived",
      "transformation": "418.25 billion - 315.02 billion",
      "raw_value": 103230000000,
      "unit": "current U.S. dollars",
      "revision_status": "current inputs",
      "comparison_validity": "Excludes investment income, asset sales, capital calls, distributions, cash changes, and other flows."
    },
    {
      "metric_id": "plan_gasb_style_funding_ratio",
      "label": "GASB-style funding position",
      "agency": "U.S. Census Bureau and National Public Pension Dashboard",
      "dataset": "ASPP unit file",
      "source_url": "https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/aspp/data.html",
      "reference_period": "plan year",
      "release_vintage": "versioned by annual file",
      "rights_class": "Dashboard calculation",
      "item_code": "RP01 / RP15",
      "versioned_definition": "Fiduciary net position divided by total pension liability in current 2022-2025 layouts.",
      "accounting_basis": "GASB-style plan reporting",
      "status": "derived when both source fields pass validation",
      "methodology_break": "Item codes are not globally stable; dictionary is keyed by survey, release vintage, code, and definition.",
      "comparison_validity": "Do not relabel as every plan's actuarial funded ratio."
    },
    {
      "metric_id": "plan_contribution_adequacy",
      "label": "Contribution adequacy",
      "agency": "U.S. Census Bureau and National Public Pension Dashboard",
      "dataset": "ASPP unit file",
      "source_url": "https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/aspp/data.html",
      "reference_period": "plan year",
      "release_vintage": "versioned by annual file",
      "rights_class": "Dashboard calculation",
      "item_code": "RP03 / RP02",
      "versioned_definition": "Actual contribution divided by actuarially determined contribution in current 2022-2025 layouts.",
      "status": "derived when both source fields pass validation",
      "comparison_validity": "Keep observed, source, edit, imputation, and weight flags attached."
    },
    {
      "metric_id": "plan_money_weighted_return",
      "label": "Annual money-weighted return",
      "agency": "U.S. Census Bureau",
      "dataset": "ASPP unit file",
      "source_url": "https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/aspp/data.html",
      "reference_period": "plan year",
      "release_vintage": "versioned by annual file",
      "rights_class": "Federal public-use data",
      "item_code": "RP08",
      "status": "observed or imputed as flagged by Census",
      "comparison_validity": "Reference period, source flags, and reporting basis are required."
    },
    {
      "metric_id": "qspp_quarterly_pulse",
      "label": "Quarterly large-system pension pulse",
      "agency": "U.S. Census Bureau",
      "dataset": "Quarterly Survey of Public Pensions",
      "source_url": "https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/econ/qspp/current-release.html",
      "reference_period": "2026 Q1",
      "release_vintage": "2026-06-22",
      "rights_class": "Federal public-use data",
      "status": "observed panel estimate",
      "methodology_break": "Private equity, venture capital, and leveraged buyouts moved into Corporate Stocks in 2012.",
      "comparison_validity": "Panel of 100 large DB systems; not the full pension universe and Corporate Stocks is not synonymous with public equities."
    },
    {
      "metric_id": "bea_operating_cash_flow",
      "label": "BEA operating cash flow",
      "agency": "U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis",
      "dataset": "Transactions of State and Local Government Defined Benefit Pension Plans",
      "source_url": "https://apps.bea.gov/scb/issues/2020/07-july/0720-state-pension-estimates.htm",
      "reference_period": "annual",
      "release_vintage": "current BEA table vintage",
      "rights_class": "Federal public-domain source",
      "item_code": "cash-flow lines 22-26",
      "accounting_basis": "standardized national economic accounts",
      "status": "standardized estimate",
      "transformation": "actual employer and household contributions + monetary income receipts - benefits and withdrawals - administrative expenses",
      "methodology_break": "BEA common discount rate increased from 4% to 5% beginning in 2022.",
      "comparison_validity": "Not audited plan liquidity."
    },
    {
      "metric_id": "fed_standardized_db_position",
      "label": "Federal Reserve standardized DB funding position",
      "agency": "Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System",
      "dataset": "Financial Accounts S129s1.3",
      "source_url": "https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/Z1/current/html/table_desc_sectors.htm",
      "reference_period": "quarterly",
      "release_vintage": "current Z.1",
      "rights_class": "Federal public-domain source",
      "accounting_basis": "standardized macroeconomic estimate",
      "status": "standardized estimate",
      "methodology_break": "Affected by the BEA common-discount-rate change beginning in 2022.",
      "comparison_validity": "Total financial assets include claims on sponsors; do not describe the total as invested pension assets or a plan-reported funded ratio."
    },
    {
      "metric_id": "bls_state_local_db_cost_hour_2026q1",
      "label": "State and local DB retirement cost per employee hour",
      "agency": "U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics",
      "dataset": "Employer Costs for Employee Compensation",
      "source_url": "https://www.bls.gov/charts/employer-costs-for-employee-compensation/benefits-per-hour.htm",
      "reference_period": "March 2026",
      "release_vintage": "2026 Q1",
      "rights_class": "Federal public-domain source",
      "status": "survey estimate",
      "raw_value": 8.22,
      "unit": "U.S. dollars per employee hour worked",
      "comparison_validity": "Employer compensation cost; not a pension contribution rate."
    },
    {
      "metric_id": "bls_state_local_dc_cost_hour_2026q1",
      "label": "State and local DC retirement cost per employee hour",
      "agency": "U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics",
      "dataset": "Employer Costs for Employee Compensation",
      "source_url": "https://www.bls.gov/charts/employer-costs-for-employee-compensation/benefits-per-hour.htm",
      "reference_period": "March 2026",
      "release_vintage": "2026 Q1",
      "rights_class": "Federal public-domain source",
      "status": "survey estimate",
      "raw_value": 0.60,
      "unit": "U.S. dollars per employee hour worked",
      "comparison_validity": "Employer compensation cost; not a pension contribution rate."
    },
    {
      "metric_id": "plan_liquidity",
      "label": "Audited plan liquidity",
      "agency": "Individual retirement systems",
      "dataset": "ACFR, actuarial valuation, cash-flow and investment records",
      "source_url": null,
      "reference_period": "plan-specific",
      "release_vintage": "plan-specific",
      "rights_class": "State/local primary record — factual extraction only",
      "status": "unavailable until primary-record evidence is attached",
      "required_fields": [
        "cash and short-term assets",
        "benefit payment calendar",
        "private-market capital calls",
        "private-market distributions",
        "unfunded commitments",
        "reliance on asset sales"
      ],
      "comparison_validity": "No nationally standardized series; never infer from total assets or funded status alone."
    }
  ]
}