U.S. ESOP Company Database

The NCEO compiles databases of ESOP companies from data collected by the U.S. Department of Labor. These databases are now available for purchase, either for the entire United States ($400 for members; $600 for nonmembers) or for a specific region ($125 for members; $200 for nonmembers). Each database is provided as a spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel format and includes a brief codebook describing the data and how to use it.

The Source of the Data

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) collects information every year on qualified retirement plans on its Form 5500 and schedules. The DOL now makes the full database of 5500 information publicly available in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. You can download the data yourself at this link.

Many potential users of this data find it difficult to use because it requires substantial processing power and knowledge of how the data is arranged. The NCEO has cleaned up the data (removing variables that are not useful, merging data from the main 5500 and some of the schedules) and developed a way to screen out companies with inactive ESOPs.

The NCEO will download new DOL data to recreate these spreadsheets at least once every six months.

Content

The current database includes 6,283 ESOP companies, approximately two-thirds of the total number we believe are currently in existence. These companies are drawn from the year 2008 filings of Form 5500, downloaded in August 2010. Not all ESOPs are on this list: data is missing for some companies during every filing year and some 2008 data is not yet in the raw data file from the Department of Labor. The list does include stock bonus plans, which are almost identical to ESOPs and are included in the NCEO's estimate for the number of ESOPs.

The spreadsheets from the NCEO include the following fields:

• The name of the company that sponsors the ESOP. If it does business under a different name, that is included as well.
• Street address, city, state, and zip.
• A code indicating the company's primary line of business, using the North American Industry Classification System.
• The number of plan participants, including retired and separated participants with balances remaining.
• The number of plan participants who are active employees.
• The dollar value of employer securities in the plan.
• The year that the company established the ESOP.
• Whether the ESOP currently has a loan (i.e., is leveraged)
• Which plans are stock bonus plans and did not classify themselves as ESOPs.
• Whether the company declared itself an S corporation. All others are presumably C corporations.
• Multiple ESOPs: Companies with multiple ESOPs are marked "Multiple ESOPs." The database includes information on a single plan.
• Companies that indicated their ESOP is subject to collective bargaining.

The data is limited in its scope and accuracy by the original data provided by the DOL. In our experience, the number of errors in the data has decreased dramatically over the last 10 years, but errors definitely remain. More importantly, some companies are missing from this database. The data does not include the number of employees.

When you buy this data, you will be eligible for updates for two years. Contact the NCEO and we will send you the most recent version of the data you ordered. (Note that you will need to contact us to request an update; we will not send out automatic notices.)

National and Regional Data

You may purchase the spreadsheet with the data for the entire U.S. or for a specific region. To purchase data only for a specific state or region, click the appropriate add-to-cart button and then when you go to checkout, type the state or region into the "Other Information" box on the first screen, below your name and address. If you specify a state, you will receive data for the entire region that includes that state. The region designations we use are:

Region 1: AK, HI, ID, MT, OR, WA, WY
Region 2: CA
Region 3: AZ, CO, NM, NV, UT
Region 4: MN, ND, SD
Region 5: IA, IL, IN, WI
Region 6: KS, MO, MS, NE, OK
Region 7: LA, PR, TX
Region 8: KY, MI, OH, TN
Region 9: CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT
Region 10: NJ, NY, PA
Region 11: DC, DE, MD, VA, WV
Region 12: AL, AR, FL, GA, NC, SC

To order data for more than one region, just choose the quantity you want and specify each region during checkout. Of course, if you want data for more than three regions, it's more economical to buy the database for the entire country.