State adn Local Debt Reaches $6.1 trillion, New Report Finds
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A new report from the Reason Foundation reveals the staggering extent of state and local goverment debt across the United States, totaling $6.1 trillion. The comprehensive analysis, utilizing data from state governments’ own financial reports for the 2023 fiscal year (with 2022 data used for Nevada due to reporting delays), ranks each state based on its outstanding liabilities, encompassing governments at the state, county, municipal, and school district levels.
California leads the nation with the highest total debt,reaching $497 billion. South Dakota follows, with $2 billion in outstanding bond debt. The report covers over 2,000 county governments, 8,000 municipal governments, and 10,000 school districts, impacting 331 million Americans.
Per capita, states vary considerably in their bond debt. Five states - Alaska, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New York – all exceed $4,000 in bond debt per resident. California ranked 10th, with $2,828 bond debt per resident. New York ranked 12th, with $2,487 per capita. Texas reported $2,284 in bond debt per resident,the 14th highest in the country,and Florida ranked 39th,with $785 per capita.
Conversely, Indiana and Nebraska reported no outstanding bonds, while Indiana, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana and Tennessee each reported less than $250 of bonded debt per resident.
The Reason Foundation’s State and Local Government Finance Report provides a detailed overview of each state’s financial health, offering insights into assets, liquidity, and solvency. data collection,while thorough,may contain discrepancies,and readers are encouraged to report any identified errors.
Detailed information and personalized reports are available on the GovFinance Dashboard: https://govfinance.reason.org/. Questions about the data can be directed to Mariana Trujillo at mariana.trujillo@reason.org or Jordan Campbell at jordan.campbell@reason.org.
