State-Facilitated Retirement Assets Triple in 2.5 Years

State-facilitated retirement savings programs reached another milestone in April, as savers’ assets surpassed $3 billion across more than 1.2 million funded accounts, according to data from the Georgetown Center for Retirement Initiatives.

Nearly half (47%) of U.S. private sector workers older than 18 lacked access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan in 2024, according to a fact sheet from the CRI. While fewer than half of states have enacted state-facilitated programs to bridge the access gap, progress has been made since the first state-facilitated program, OregonSaves, launched in 2017.

From that small start, the programs’ pace of growth has accelerated. While it took nearly five years for state programs to reach $500 million in assets, it took less than three years for assets to grow to $3 billion since reaching $1 billion in August 2023. Saver participation also grew swiftly, increasing 20% between March 2025 and March 2026.

So far in 2026, several states have taken steps toward adding similar state-facilitated retirement programs. Mississippi and Utah each enacted new voluntary retirement savings programs—Mississippi’s Work and Save Program and Utah’s Retirement Exchange—bringing the number of state programs enacted across the country to 22. Of the 22 programs, 17 are currently operational.

In addition, Philadelphia may soon become the first city to implement a government-facilitated retirement savings program. On May 19, Philadelphia voters will be asked to approve a new program that would automatically enroll workers who do not have access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan into a city-sponsored individual retirement account. If approved, Philadelphia would become the third city in the nation to authorize a program. Two other cities—Seattle and New York—enacted auto-IRA programs but did not implement their programs after state programs launched.

At the state level, New York, Rhode Island and Minnesota all launched programs within the past year. Hawaii and Washington are preparing to launch programs in 2026 and 2027, respectively.