117 — based on the privacy-thresholded accepted-generation projection (2024 DOL Form 5500 filings).
Average plan size measured by participant headcount across every U.S. employer-sponsored retirement plan. The median is reported instead of the arithmetic mean because a handful of mega-plans (50,000+ participants) would otherwise distort the typical figure.
| State | Avg Participants per Plan | vs National |
|---|---|---|
| AR | 617 | +427.4% |
| TN | 265 | +126.4% |
| WA | 204 | +74.1% |
| RI | 181 | +54.9% |
| GA | 181 | +54.6% |
| MN | 181 | +54.5% |
| OK | 166 | +42.2% |
| TX | 154 | +31.4% |
| NC | 148 | +26.8% |
| OH | 146 | +25.2% |
| MO | 142 | +21.4% |
| IL | 135 | +15.8% |
| VA | 135 | +15.3% |
| KY | 135 | +15.0% |
| PA | 132 | +12.5% |
| IA | 126 | +7.7% |
| NJ | 123 | +5.5% |
| UT | 116 | -1.1% |
| MI | 115 | -1.6% |
| IN | 112 | -4.6% |
| NY | 112 | -4.7% |
| WI | 109 | -7.0% |
| NE | 107 | -8.3% |
| AZ | 104 | -10.7% |
| CT | 101 | -13.7% |
| AL | 101 | -13.8% |
| MA | 101 | -14.0% |
| FL | 100 | -14.5% |
| ND | 98 | -16.4% |
| MD | 96 | -17.9% |
| DC | 95 | -19.0% |
| NV | 94 | -19.3% |
| AK | 90 | -23.4% |
| KS | 87 | -25.4% |
| LA | 78 | -33.6% |
| MS | 76 | -35.2% |
| SD | 75 | -35.7% |
| ME | 75 | -36.3% |
| CA | 74 | -36.5% |
| SC | 71 | -38.9% |
| CO | 70 | -40.5% |
| OR | 67 | -42.8% |
| ID | 64 | -45.4% |
| DE | 60 | -48.7% |
| NM | 58 | -50.0% |
| WV | 57 | -50.9% |
| NH | 53 | -54.9% |
| HI | 49 | -58.4% |
| MT | 45 | -61.7% |
| VT | 42 | -64.1% |
| WY | 31 | -73.4% |
| Industry | Avg Participants per Plan | vs National |
|---|---|---|
| NAICS 452 | 8,699 | +7335.0% |
| Hospitals | 2,961 | +2430.4% |
| Air Transportation | 1,143 | +876.5% |
| Rail Transportation | 1,090 | +832.0% |
| Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles | 671 | +473.2% |
| Management of Companies and Enterprises | 665 | +468.6% |
| Transportation Equipment Manufacturing | 585 | +400.0% |
| Food and Beverage Retailers | 534 | +356.4% |
| Textile Product Mills | 403 | +244.1% |
| NAICS 447 | 387 | +230.4% |
| Pipeline Transportation | 386 | +229.6% |
| Nursing and Residential Care Facilities | 381 | +225.9% |
| Paper Manufacturing | 371 | +217.0% |
| NAICS 515 | 355 | +203.2% |
| Chemical Manufacturing | 335 | +186.2% |
| Accommodation | 330 | +181.7% |
| Food Manufacturing | 329 | +181.0% |
| Telecommunications | 299 | +155.4% |
| NAICS 448 | 298 | +154.7% |
| Petroleum and Coal Products Manufacturing | 285 | +144.0% |
| Utilities | 284 | +142.7% |
| Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing | 271 | +132.0% |
| Building Material and Garden Equipment and Supplies Dealers | 268 | +128.8% |
| Animal Production and Aquaculture | 254 | +116.7% |
| Truck Transportation | 224 | +91.6% |
| Electrical Equipment, Appliance, and Component Manufacturing | 209 | +78.2% |
| Plastics and Rubber Products Manufacturing | 208 | +77.5% |
| Mining (except Oil and Gas) | 204 | +74.6% |
| Water Transportation | 204 | +74.3% |
| Credit Intermediation and Related Activities | 200 | +70.9% |
| NAICS 451 | 193 | +65.0% |
| Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services | 193 | +64.7% |
| Miscellaneous Manufacturing | 192 | +64.3% |
| NAICS 446 | 192 | +63.7% |
| Warehousing and Storage | 188 | +60.6% |
| Oil and Gas Extraction | 181 | +55.1% |
| Administrative and Support Services | 172 | +46.8% |
| Insurance Carriers and Related Activities | 170 | +45.3% |
| Food Services and Drinking Places | 167 | +42.9% |
| Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries | 164 | +40.2% |
| Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing | 161 | +37.8% |
| Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries | 158 | +34.7% |
| Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation | 157 | +34.6% |
| Motor Vehicle and Parts Dealers | 152 | +29.7% |
| Primary Metal Manufacturing | 149 | +27.1% |
| Nonmetallic Mineral Product Manufacturing | 147 | +25.5% |
| Rental and Leasing Services | 147 | +25.4% |
| NAICS 443 | 138 | +18.0% |
| Wood Product Manufacturing | 138 | +17.6% |
| Furniture and Related Product Manufacturing | 137 | +17.4% |
| Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods | 131 | +12.2% |
| Machinery Manufacturing | 130 | +11.3% |
| Support Activities for Transportation | 128 | +9.4% |
| Apparel Manufacturing | 123 | +5.4% |
| Support Activities for Mining | 123 | +5.4% |
| Waste Management and Remediation Services | 122 | +4.5% |
| Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services | 111 | -5.0% |
| Textile Mills | 110 | -6.0% |
| Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support | 107 | -8.4% |
| Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction | 102 | -12.8% |
| Publishing Industries | 101 | -13.7% |
| Educational Services | 95 | -19.0% |
| Leather and Allied Product Manufacturing | 92 | -21.3% |
| Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods | 92 | -21.5% |
| Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing | 92 | -21.6% |
| NAICS 453 | 89 | -23.6% |
| Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries | 86 | -26.1% |
| NAICS 442 | 80 | -31.8% |
| NAICS 454 | 80 | -31.8% |
| Scenic and Sightseeing Transportation | 79 | -32.5% |
| Social Assistance | 77 | -34.2% |
| Couriers and Messengers | 74 | -36.7% |
| Lessors of Nonfinancial Intangible Assets (except Copyrighted Works) | 71 | -39.1% |
| Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services | 70 | -40.3% |
| Printing and Related Support Activities | 67 | -42.5% |
| Crop Production | 67 | -42.9% |
| Real Estate | 65 | -44.8% |
| Securities, Commodity Contracts, and Other Financial Investments and Related Activities | 63 | -46.0% |
| Support Activities for Agriculture and Forestry | 61 | -47.6% |
| Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions | 61 | -48.1% |
| Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations | 59 | -49.9% |
| Wholesale Trade Agents and Brokers | 57 | -50.9% |
| Specialty Trade Contractors | 50 | -57.3% |
| Ambulatory Health Care Services | 49 | -58.4% |
| Fishing, Hunting and Trapping | 46 | -60.7% |
| Construction of Buildings | 45 | -61.6% |
| Repair and Maintenance | 42 | -63.9% |
| Forestry and Logging | 40 | -65.5% |
| Personal and Laundry Services | 39 | -66.3% |
| Plan Type | Avg Participants per Plan | vs National |
|---|---|---|
| 403(b) | 455 | +288.8% |
| 401(k) | 117 | 0.0% |
Source: U.S. Department of Labor — Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) Form 5500 dataset.
Why median, not arithmetic mean: Retirement plan data has extreme outliers; the median represents the middle plan in each cohort, giving a more accurate "typical" benchmark. We continue to use "average" in titles because that's the everyday term searchers use.