Methodology

Source data

Every plan figure comes from the U.S. Department of Labor's public Form 5500 datasets (EFAST2 bulk files, dataset version "Latest", plan years through 2024). Each figure is shown with its form or schedule, line, dataset field, position in the DOL file layout, the filing's acknowledgement ID and the date the Department received it. Plan terms, where shown, are quoted verbatim from Form 11-K and Form 10-K filings with the SEC and linked to the filing.

Which plans

Plans whose Form 5500 reports a section 401(k) feature (plan characteristic code 2J) and that file Schedule H, the financial schedule for larger plans. Plans filing Schedule I or Form 5500-SF are not yet included; when they are, their pages will carry a noindex tag and be reachable through search only. Direct filing entities (master trusts and similar) are not plans and are not listed, but their costs are shown on the pages of the plans that invest through them, allocated by each plan's share.

Pages and names

An employer with one plan has a single page at its employer address; the plan address points to it. An employer with several plans has an employer page and one page per plan. Employers matched to an SEC registrant are named as on the cover of their Form 11-K, else by the registrant name in EDGAR; other employers are named as on their Form 5500, with legal-form words (Inc., Corp., LLC) left out of the title. The name as filed is always shown on the page.

Plan identity across years

A plan is identified by its sponsor's EIN and plan number. Filings are grouped by the plan year they describe; when a plan has more than one filing for a year, the filing covering the latest plan-year end wins, then the most recently received. Final filings are kept and labeled.

Cost figures

• Administrative expenses are Schedule H Part II line 2i(12): expenses paid from plan assets, including recordkeeping, audit, trustee, legal and investment advisory and management fees paid by the plan. They exclude fund-level expense ratios netted inside investment returns and any fees the employer pays.
• Recordkeeping fees are line 2i(3). This is the headline figure per participant where the plan reports it.
• Administrative expenses excluding investment management subtract line 2i(5), investment advisory and management fees, from line 2i(12), floored at zero. Where a plan reports no recordkeeping fee, this is the headline figure per participant.
• Per-participant figures divide by participants with an account balance (Form 5500 line 6g(2)). Ratios divide by total assets at the end of the plan year (Schedule H line 1f).
• Total expenses (line 2j) are not a cost measure: they are mostly benefit payments to participants.
• Filings sometimes report negative amounts on expense lines; a negative line 2i(5) is treated as zero and the difference is floored at zero.

Employer contributions

Schedule H line 2a(1)(A), shown in dollars, per participant with a balance, and as a share of total contributions (line 2a(3)). Plan characteristic code 2K indicates a 401(m) arrangement, under which employer contributions depend on employee deferrals. The match formula itself is not in the Form 5500; where it appears, it is quoted from an SEC filing.

Comparisons

Percentiles compare a plan with plans of the same tier, plan year and end-of-year asset bucket (under $1M, $1 to 10M, $10 to 50M, $50 to 250M, $250M to 1B, over $1B), among plans that are not final filings and report the figure. A percentile is shown only when at least 50 comparable plans report the figure. "Higher than 78% of plans of similar size" means exactly that: 78% of those plans report a lower value. The insight pages apply the same rule: a median is shown only where at least 50 plans report the figure. No scores, grades or adjectives are applied.

Providers

Schedule C Part I line 2 lists service providers that received $5,000 or more. Direct compensation (column d) is an amount paid by the plan; indirect compensation (columns e to h) is reported as a flag and, where given, an amount. Provider names are shown as filed; a provider is identified by its Schedule C EIN where given, else by its normalized name. Provider pages exist for providers named on at least 10 plans in the latest plan year.

Master trusts

Where a plan invests through a master trust investment account (Schedule D Part I, entity code M), the trust files its own Form 5500. Its administrative expenses, recordkeeping fees and providers are shown on the plan's page allocated by the plan's interest divided by the trust's net assets, labeled as trust-level figures. Benchmarks use the plan's own Schedule H only.

Public companies

Sponsors are matched to SEC registrants by EIN, and otherwise by the plan title stated on the cover of a Form 11-K. The registrant's name and ticker are shown where matched.

Industry and state

Industry is the sector (first two digits of the NAICS-based principal business activity code) reported on Form 5500 line 2d. State is the sponsor's mailing address state on line 2a.

Corrections, claims and alerts

Filings contain errors, and the site reproduces them with their source so they can be checked. Every plan page carries a correction form, a claim form for the sponsor or its administrator, and an alert form that sends one email when a new filing for the plan appears. Submissions are stored with the page, the time and a hashed IP address; alert addresses are confirmed by email before any alert is sent.

Names

Plan names are filed in capitals; they are shown title-cased, with acronyms kept in capitals where EDGAR's own mixed-case names show them that way. The name as filed is on the plan's full record.