How well run are America’s fifty states? 24/7 Wall St. has taken several months to consider that question. Our writers looked at hundreds of data sets ranging from debt rating agency reports to violent crime rates, unemployment trends and median income. Of those, we chose what we considered to be the 10 most important ranking of financial and overall government management. The best run state is Wyoming. The Worst is Kentucky. The standing of each is supported by their ranking in the data sets we considered, as are the rankings of all fifty states.
24/7 Wall St. has completed one of the most comprehensive studies of state financial management ever performed by the mainstream media. It is based on evaluation principles used in the award-winning Best Run States In America ratings published by the Financial World Magazine during the 1990s. These studies were used by state governments to evaluate the efficiency of their own operations. The new 24/7 Wall St. study is meant to help businesses and individuals examine state operation with an unbiased eye.
The work involved in comparing states is challenging. This is due the volume of the data and the many ways it can be interpreted. A comparison is made even more difficult because state governments have advantages and disadvantages that may be decades old. These include the presence of natural resources, the the decisions by large companies to locate or leave and the extent to which populations are rural or urban. Populations of some states have changed very little. Other states have added or lost hundreds of thousands of people in the last decade. Many border states accommodate large numbers of immigrants.
Ultimately, however, states can control their own destinies. Well-run states have a great deal in common with well-run corporations. Books are kept balanced. Investment is prudent. Debt is sustainable. Innovation is prized. Workers are well-chosen and well-trained. Executives are picked based on merit and not “politics.”
24/7 Wall Street identified surveys with complete data sets for each state. Using this data, our formula ranked each state giving weight to metrics that are most important to prudent governance. In addition to traditional fiscal information, including GDP per capita, debt per capita, and and credit rating, our analysis also showed the impact of state policies on its residents. Combined, this created a complete picture of the “state of each state.” A fuller accounting of out methodology can be found at the end of the article.
The 24/7 Wall St. State of the States is meant to be an analysis that will refocus the debate on state management and financial operations in a period when the future of all 50 states is at stake, just as the future of the country is uncertain.
2nd. North Dakota
State Credit Rating
8th. New Hampshire
New Hampshire stands out in many categories. Only 8.5% of the state’s population lives below the poverty line, the lowest rate in the country. The state also has the third lowest rate of violent crime. It was not as badly hit by the recession as many other areas of the country.
Hawaiians live well, earning the state the tenth spot on our list. The state, referred to as the Paradise of the Pacific, has the second lowest percentage of residents without health insurance and, as of 2009, the fifth highest median income per household in the country. Unfortunately tourism, the island’s number one industry, dropped significantly during 2008 and 2009 due to the recession. The numbers seem to be returning, however, and the Hawaii Tourism Authority reports a 30% increase in visitor spending from August 2009 to August 2010.