Big Sky Times

The earnings on investments for Montana public pensions dropped from $1,876 in 2021 to $1,790 in 2022, according to data obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Annual Survey of Public Pensions.

The Census Bureau's survey includes public pensions sponsored by local and state government entities with employees who are compensated with public funds. The local governments include counties, townships, school districts and special districts.

The data gathered includes revenues, expenditures, financial assets, membership and liabilities information.

It's worth noting that residents in Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming are not subject to state income taxes.

The Census Bureau cautions that not all respondents answer all survey questions. Thus, some fields were left blank.

Montana reported data from 98 pension systems, including nine state-level pension funds and 89 local-level systems. The total number of pension system members was 151,253 (149,626 at the state level and 1,627 at the local level).