Which New England State is Most Dependent on Federal Funds
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
GoLocalWorcester News Team
Which New England state is the most federally dependent?
According to a recent study done by WalletHub, Massachusetts is the least federally dependent state in New England and the 8th least federally dependent state in the country.
See the Rest of the New England States in the Slides Below
"The idea of the American freeloader burst into the public consciousness when #47percent started trending on Twitter in 2012. And while the notion is senselessly insulting to millions of hardworking Americans, it is true that some states receive a far higher return on their federal income-tax contributions than others," said WalletHub.
U.S. Rankings
Massachusetts ranks 43rd overall behind fellow New England states New Hampshire and Connecticut who rank 41st and 42nd respectively. Massachusetts is ranked ahead of Nevada and Kansas who rank 44th and 45th respectively.
See the full rankings in the map below.
The Method
In order to determine the most and least federally dependent states, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states across two key dimensions, namely “State Residents’ Dependency” and “State Government’s Dependency.”
They evaluated those dimensions using three relevant metrics. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the highest level of federal.
They then calculated the overall score for each state based on its weighted average across all metrics and used the resulting scores to construct our final ranking.
State Residents’ Dependency – Total Points: 50
- Return on Taxes Paid to the Federal Government: Triple Weight (~37.50 Points)
- Note: This metric was calculated by dividing federal funding in U.S. dollars by IRS collections in U.S. dollars.
- Share of Federal Jobs: Full Weight (~12.50 Points)
State Government’s Dependency – Total Points: 50
- Federal Funding as a Share of State Revenue: Full Weight (~50.00 Points)
- Note: This metric reflects the proportion of state revenue that comes from the federal government in the form of intergovernmental aid.
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