The list of Kansas Public Employees Retirement System (KPERS) ‘millionaires’ — those who will accrue $1,000,000 in benefits in the first 20 years of retirement — soared to 5,170 last year. That’s an increase of 412 over last year.
Eight of the top 25, nearly a third, come from K-12 school districts. The entire list is available at kansasopengov.org.
Some statistics from this year’s membership:
- Cities and counties account for 2,275 KPERS ‘millionaires.’
- Wyandotte County alone has 392, while Johnson County has 319
- School districts have 1,538 KPERS ‘millionaires.’
- The rest are from state agencies, community colleges, K-12 regional service centers, and a smattering of small local entities like hospitals, recreation districts, etc.
As of the end of Calendar Year 2024, the retirement system was 74% funded with an unfunded liability of $10.05 billion.
While state law prohibits identifying the recipients, an educated guess is that the top four in 2025 are K-12 superintendents, based on their salaries, since pensions are based on the last several years of pay. Total compensation paid to school, city, county, and state employees is also available on KansasOpenGov.org.
Retirees can choose to take a one-time lump-sum distribution upon retirement, which reduces their monthly benefits. They pay income tax only on their own contributions to KPERS, but they are never taxed on the contributions from taxpayers or the earnings on all contributions.
