Government & Policy
The Teacher Retirement System of Texas is responsible for investing funds under its stewardship and for delivering benefits to members as authorized by the Texas Legislature. TRS is a defined benefit plan, with retirement benefits determined by a pre-established formula. The trust fund is sustained principally by three sources -- contributions by members during their working careers, contributions by the state and investment revenues.
TRS was founded over 80 years ago. With assets at $151 billion, the Trust is the largest public retirement system in Texas in both membership and assets. It is the sixth largest public pension plan in the U.S. and is among the 20th largest in the world. The agency serves more than 1.5 million people. Over 1 million are public and higher education members and over 400,000 are retirement recipients and beneficiaries. As of FY 2017, pension benefits totaling nearly $10 billion were paid to retirees and their beneficiaries.