Each state receives federal funds for economic support, but which states are the most dependent on this aid from the federal government?
WalletHub, a personal finance resource website, sought to answer this question with this interactive map (included below) that ranks each state’s dependency on financial aid from the federal government. Lighter colors indicate a greater dependency on federal funds.
WalletHub’s rankings of each state are based on four metrics, one of which was the number of federal employees in the state:
- Return on Taxes Paid to the Federal Government (Federal Funding in $ Divided by Federal Income Taxes in $): Weight = 1
- Federal Funding as a Percentage of State Revenue (Federal Funding in $ Divided by State Revenue in $ then Multiplied by 100): Weight = 1
- Number of Federal Employees per 1,000 Residents (Number of Federal Workers Divided by Number of State Residents): Weight = 0.5
- Number of Civilian Non-Defense Federal Employees per 1,000 Residents (Total Federal Civilian Employment Minus Total Civilian Employment of Army, Air Force, Navy & Defense Department): Weight = 0.25
Which states were found to be the most dependent? These are the 10 most dependent (the rankings go from least dependent (#1) to most dependent (#50):
| State | Return on Taxpayer Investment (Category Rank) | Federal Funding as % of State Revenue (Category Rank) | Federal Employees per 1,000 Residents (Category Rank) | Number of Civilian Non-Defense Federal Employees per 1,000 Residents (Category Rank) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Carolina | $5.38 (50) |
32.50% (23) |
12.74 (34) |
2.42 (9) |
| Maine | $1.58 (40) |
35.42% (38) |
8.73 (23) |
3.04 (17) |
| South Dakota | $0.80 (20) |
39.78% (47) |
14.42 (36) |
8.69 (46) |
| Louisiana | $1.37 (36) |
42.21% (48) |
8.40 (21) |
3.15 (19) |
| Arizona | $1.47 (39) |
36.26% (39) |
9.34 (28) |
4.95 (37) |
| West Virginia | $1.91 (43) |
34.91% (35) |
8.91 (25) |
7.66 (44) |
| Montana | $1.24 (33) |
37.49% (41) |
13.51 (35) |
8.74 (47) |
| Alabama | $2.46 (48) |
36.64% (40) |
10.36 (31) |
3.19 (20) |
| Kentucky | $2.18 (45) |
35.26% (37) |
15.38 (40) |
3.61 (28) |
| Mississippi | $2.34 (47) |
43.68% (50) |
10.61 (32) |
3.41 (24) |
| New Mexico | $2.19 (46) |
37.89% (42) |
18.50 (45) |
9.03 (48) |
Source: WalletHub
