Illinois has the most public pension plans in the nation. Even the smallest towns and villages manage their own funds for their police and fire employees. However, many of these funds are struggling to keep up with what they owe. Much attention has been given to the funding crisis for Illinois' statewide pensions. This is not just a state-level problem, as it is deeply sowed throughout the state's small communities. In early 2018, the firefighters pension fund for the city of Harvey completely collapsed. In August 2018, the city of Peoria layed off 27 municipal workers due to its pension crisis. This could just be the tip of the iceberg.
*There are data reporting issues in the 2011 Illinois Biennial Pension Report , causing the visible dip.
A pension fund is considered to be
healthy
if its funding ratio, being the assets÷liabilities, is above 80%. Below that is considered to be
in danger,
and below 65% is further considered to be
in critical danger.
Click on a county to reveal each of its individual funds.