Ranking State + Local Government Debt Obligations

What’s happening? The Census Bureau is releasing aggregate local and state government debt data. Here’s a glimpse at the top 13

1. New York

2. Connecticut

3.Massachusetts

4. Illinois

5. Alaska

6. California

7. North Dakota

8. Hawaii

9. Washington

10. Kentucky

11. Rhode Island

12. Colorado

13. Texas

Why is this important? The data is broken down in total, local, state % of GDP and per capita. Here’s who is on top and on bottom of each these.

• Total: CA with$ 506.7 Billion & Alaska with $9.5 Billion
• Local: CA with $361B (TX with $248B) & RI with $2.6B
• State % of GDP: KY with 24.7% of its GDP & NJ with 14.5%
• Per Capita state and local government debt: NY $18,411 & PA $9,778

How will this be important? These numbers have been increasing since the pandemic.

Governing | State and Local Governments With the Most Debt Per Capita