# State Fiscal Condition: Ranking the 50 States **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 21, 2014, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-fiscal-condition-ranking-the-50-states/684202 "2014-03-21T02:12:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2014, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-fiscal-condition-ranking-the-50-states/684202/1 "2014-03-21T02:12:26Z")
Just ran across this: > **[Ranking the States by Fiscal Condition | 2016 Edition](https://www.mercatus.org/research/research-papers/ranking-states-fiscal-condition-2016-edition)** > > A new study for the Mercatus Center at George Mason University ranks each US state’s financial health based on short- and long-term debt and other key fiscal obligations, such as unfunded pen­sions and healthcare benefits. By almost any measure: budget solvency, long-run solvency, service-level solvency, or the combo “fiscal condition”, the maps look mostly like the blue-red divide, with “blue” on the insolvent/bad fiscal condition side. I mean, here are the five worst “fiscal condition” states: New Jersey, Illinois, Massachusetts, Connecticut, California or, if you think that’s just a fluke, the next five worst: New York, Maryland, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, West Virginia In general, the study provides a bit of an insight into which kind of politics, locally, lead to better financial health of states. ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2014, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-fiscal-condition-ranking-the-50-states/684202/2 "2014-03-21T19:02:12Z")
Most of the red states seem to be benefit queens, taking more from the federal government than they put in. Do you figures take that into account? ---
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2014, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-fiscal-condition-ranking-the-50-states/684202/3 "2014-03-21T20:01:43Z")
I don’t know if I’d reach the same conclusion. There are a lot of “red” states with a large “blue” metro area that skews things. For example, Illinois–you just CANNOT talk about the state as a whole with any meaning. I’m pretty sure California is the same way. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-fiscal-condition-ranking-the-50-states/684202/4 "2014-03-21T20:33:46Z")
Alaska is effectively a member of OPEC and you could pay off every service in Montana with a $20 and get change back. I’m not impressed. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2014, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-fiscal-condition-ranking-the-50-states/684202/5 "2014-03-21T20:38:52Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Alaska is effectively a member of OPEC and you could pay off every service in Montana with a $20 and get change back. I’m not impressed. Drop the small-population states. Look at the rest. Still same. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-fiscal-condition-ranking-the-50-states/684202/6 "2014-03-22T00:41:33Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > you could pay off every service in Montana with a $20 and get change back I resemble that remark. Once again, it’s the Illinois Problem (thanks, **Elemenopy** ): By land area, Montana is two-thirds West Dakota and one-third Western Washington Of The Northern Rockies. We don’t have the Problem\* quite as bad as Illinois does, but trying to compare Missoula to Havre is a fool’s errand just the same. Limiting this to just one axis, Missoula has a fairly useful city bus system with non-trivial scheduled routes and Havre can barely keep a private taxi service in business. \*(Which isn’t a problem unless you’re trying to use states as your measure of economic success.) (I was born in the non-Chicagoland part of Illinois, BTW.)