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ECONOMYRanked: U.S. States Most Dependent on the Federal Government
Visual Capitalist ^ | 06/22/2025 | Pallavi Rao

Posted on 07/01/2025 6:07:10 PM PDT by thegagline

How reliant is your state on Uncle Sam’s wallet?

Every year, billions in federal tax dollars are redistributed to the 50 states and the District of Columbia through grants, contracts, and benefit programs. ***

Their dependency score blends two metrics: the state’s return‐on‐taxes ratio and the share of state revenues coming from federal sources. Importantly, this data does not include Medicaid payments.

Finally, a state’s political affiliation is based on its voting history in the past five presidential elections. New Mexico tops the 2024 list for states most dependent on the federal government, with a perfect score of 100.

Its residents receive $3.42 for every tax dollar they send to Washington, while the state covers nearly a third of its budget with federal funds.

***

Federal Dependency: Red vs. Blue States MoneyGeek’s ranking reveals a partisan tilt: seven of the states with the top 10 dependency scores are red, including conservative strongholds such as Alabama, Kentucky, and Montana.

Meanwhile, 11 of the 20 net tax recipient states have voted Republican in at least three of the past five presidential elections.

Yet political color is not destiny. Deep-blue New Mexico and D.C. also sit near the top.

MoneyGeek’s analysis points to economic structure rather than ideology: energy extraction, military installations, and a high share of retirees often correlate with greater federal inflows.

The Big List of Donor States At the opposite end, New Jersey and Washington score zero, receiving roughly half a dollar back for every dollar paid their residents pay in taxes.

California, New York, and Minnesota also run sizable “deficits,” each collecting less than 75 cents on the dollar.

These donor states tend to have large, diversified economies and higher-than-average household incomes, boosting tax receipts while limiting eligibility for certain federal aid programs. ***


(Excerpt) Read more at visualcapitalist.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: budgettruth; concerntroll; concerntrolling; distributions; fakenews; money; statetruth; taxes
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1 posted on 07/01/2025 6:07:10 PM PDT by thegagline
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To: thegagline

About where Rome was in 550.


2 posted on 07/01/2025 6:08:41 PM PDT by Judge Bean
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To: thegagline

If the federal government takes your tax dollars and gives you comparatively little in return, they you are likely to vote for more and bigger government so they can continue to take more of your money and continue to give you little in return.


3 posted on 07/01/2025 6:10:55 PM PDT by ClearCase_guy
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To: thegagline

Include racial breakdowns in these numbers...


4 posted on 07/01/2025 6:11:09 PM PDT by GOPJ (Democrats judge themselves by thier 'intentins' NOT by the result of their ideas. )
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To: thegagline

These stupid studies count things like Sic Sec that we paid for.

So in one state like Fla have more retired people their number goes up.

That way they can “conclude” red states get more than blue.


5 posted on 07/01/2025 6:15:07 PM PDT by Fledermaus ("It turns out all we really needed was a new President!")
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To: thegagline

Of course blue state retirees flock to sunbelt states, which greatly skews the numbers. If all the NY and NJ retirees returned to their home states, these “deadbeats “ would be on the home states books.


6 posted on 07/01/2025 6:16:26 PM PDT by bort
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To: thegagline

Maryland is by far the most dependent state.


7 posted on 07/01/2025 6:17:45 PM PDT by bort
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To: ClearCase_guy

There’s a lot of money going to illegal aliens, social welfare, healthcare organizations, educational institutions and NGOs. And there’s been a lot of outright theft going on.


8 posted on 07/01/2025 6:19:21 PM PDT by doc maverick
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To: thegagline
On the revenue side of this calculation, does every dollar of tax paid get assigned to the mailing address of the entity paying the tax?

In other words, does every dollar paid by Apple count as coming from California? How about Ford Motor Co. and Michigan. and countless other examples?

Or is the number allocated, so that payroll taxes on employees in South Dakota get counted as South Dakota, or where the corporate office is located?

9 posted on 07/01/2025 6:22:22 PM PDT by Bernard (Issue an annual budget. And Issue a federal government balance sheet. Let's see what we got.)
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To: thegagline

Tennessee be much more independent of FedGov if it weren’t for Memphis.


10 posted on 07/01/2025 6:24:43 PM PDT by packagingguy
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To: packagingguy

You forget the poorest of the poor Hancock County.


11 posted on 07/01/2025 6:32:19 PM PDT by napscoordinator (DeSantis is a beast! Florida is the freest state in the country! )
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To: thegagline

Bump for tomorrow. Two or three things skew these numbers heavily, so I’m not sure what exactly the numbers are really telling us.


12 posted on 07/01/2025 6:34:41 PM PDT by Alberta's Child ("The gallows wait for martyrs whose papers are in order.")
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To: Fledermaus
Agreed. I noticed the same thing from these two statements in the article (bold-faced mine):

Importantly, this data does not include Medicaid payments.

Followed by:

MoneyGeek’s analysis points to economic structure rather than ideology: energy extraction, military installations, and a high share of retirees often correlate with greater federal inflows.

Summary: In at least the two bold-faced items they say they're excluding a type of welfare payment (Medicaid) but including a type of payment that was at least somewhat pre-paid by the recipient (pension checks, perhaps SS checks). One would think they're intentionally slanting the information they choose to make it look like red states are the highest dependents on Big Govt, when it's probably the opposite that's true.

13 posted on 07/01/2025 6:35:18 PM PDT by Tell It Right (1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: bort

No wonder Van Hollen was crying when Garcia got deported..he lost one of his voters


14 posted on 07/01/2025 6:36:24 PM PDT by Sarah Barracuda
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To: Tell It Right

Exactly.

But idiots buy it.


15 posted on 07/01/2025 6:38:53 PM PDT by Fledermaus ("It turns out all we really needed was a new President!")
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To: GOPJ

Include Medicaid


16 posted on 07/01/2025 6:45:42 PM PDT by spintreebob (ki .h )
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To: thegagline

For those who bitch about California.
If it was run correctly, it would be at the bottom of the list by far.


17 posted on 07/01/2025 6:50:03 PM PDT by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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To: bort

That chart shows Maryland at #13 most dependent.


18 posted on 07/01/2025 6:55:03 PM PDT by laplata (They want each crisis to take the greatest toll possible.)
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To: spintreebob
Include Medicaid

Here’s a start. FY2023

Federal and State Share of Medicaid Spending


19 posted on 07/01/2025 6:57:57 PM PDT by thegagline (Sic semper tyrannis! Trump & Vance, 2024! (Formerly) Goldwater & Thomas Sowell.k and Trump <)
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To: bort

“retirees returned to their home states, these “deadbeats “

Stupid post. Retirees are NOT deadbeat. Most worked their entire life paying income tax, property taxes and Social Securitie taxes.


20 posted on 07/01/2025 7:02:28 PM PDT by TexasGator (i-D\ logo About Issues Projects Products Connect Subscribe Invest June 19, 2025 | Insight '1-1111 -)
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