K-12 Tax & Spending Climate: California’s public pension debt is third-worst in U.S.

Allen Young

If all of California’s public pension debt were divided evenly by household, each house would need to pay $77,700, according to a new project from a Stanford University researcher.

The relatively high debt-to-household ratio makes the Golden State the third worst in the nation for total pension debt burden, behind Alaska and Illinois. That’s not to say that each Californian is responsible for paying $77,000, but the costs will fall on residents in different ways, as state and local governments figure out how to pay the debt, said Stanford researcher Joe Nation.