The feds are dumping piles of stimulus dollars on all 50 states, but when you look behind the 11-digit numbers, some interesting disparities emerge. Through subtle decisions and complicated formulas, Congress is showering more largesse on some places than others. Take the $48 billion intended to stabilize shaky state budgets. The bulk is for education, so Congress divvied up the funds partially on the basis of each state's school-age population. The result: States with more young people get more money.
On health care, the feds are upping their share of Medicaid costs by 6.2 percentage points. So states with more generous Medicaid programs -- or where health care is generally expensive -- get more funding. The stimulus package also includes $20 billion for increasing food-stamp benefits for every person in the program. That means states where poverty rates are the highest wind up with larger shares of money.
Of course, all of this could change if some states follow through on their governors' intentions to reject some of the federal cash.
State budget help, per capita
Utah, where the median age is 28, gets more than West Virginia, where the median age is 40.
Utah |
$175.37 |
Alaska |
165.67 |
Texas |
163.34 |
North Dakota |
163.22 |
Mississippi |
163.10 |
California |
162.16 |
Idaho |
161.83 |
Louisiana |
160.65 |
Nebraska |
160.42 |
New Mexico |
160.40 |
Kansas |
160.27 |
Illinois |
159.29 |
Michigan |
159.17 |
Georgia |
159.13 |
Oklahoma |
158.69 |
South Dakota |
158.54 |
Indiana |
157.92 |
Iowa |
157.33 |
Rhode Island |
156.93 |
Arizona |
156.46 |
Minnesota |
156.41 |
Alabama |
156.40 |
Maryland |
156.17 |
Wisconsin |
155.81 |
Ohio |
155.79 |
Missouri |
155.76 |
Arkansas |
155.46 |
Wyoming |
155.07 |
South Carolina |
154.92 |
New York |
154.84 |
Virginia |
154.82 |
Connecticut |
154.77 |
Delaware |
154.39 |
North Carolina |
154.02 |
Colorado |
153.92 |
Montana |
153.70 |
New Jersey |
153.22 |
Pennsylvania |
153.08 |
Washington |
153.04 |
Massachusetts |
153.02 |
Kentucky |
152.56 |
New Hampshire |
152.53 |
Nevada |
152.53 |
Tennessee |
152.47 |
Vermont |
151.95 |
Oregon |
150.47 |
Hawaii |
149.20 |
Florida |
147.33 |
Maine |
146.99 |
West Virginia |
146.88 |
Medicaid
New York spends 3 1/2 times more than Utah -- so it gets $532 more per person than Utah.
New York |
$649.04 |
Massachusetts |
475.53 |
Vermont |
450.69 |
Rhode Island |
447.28 |
Minnesota |
388.86 |
Connecticut |
377.01 |
Louisiana |
376.35 |
Delaware |
366.51 |
Maine |
357.02 |
Pennsylvania |
326.95 |
Alaska |
320.56 |
New Mexico |
317.48 |
Washington |
314.54 |
California |
305.52 |
Arizona |
304.61 |
Maryland |
289.34 |
Hawaii |
279.46 |
Missouri |
270.65 |
Mississippi |
268.83 |
Oklahoma |
263.57 |
Ohio |
262.06 |
Tennessee |
260.66 |
New Jersey |
255.68 |
Arkansas |
255.66 |
North Carolina |
254.81 |
West Virginia |
248.01 |
Kentucky |
241.26 |
Florida |
239.52 |
Michigan |
226.92 |
Indiana |
225.82 |
Illinois |
224.78 |
Texas |
224.03 |
Wisconsin |
220.33 |
Oregon |
218.99 |
Wyoming |
206.51 |
Idaho |
196.87 |
South Carolina |
191.97 |
New Hampshire |
190.00 |
Virginia |
189.21 |
Montana |
186.06 |
Iowa |
183.18 |
Alabama |
182.33 |
Georgia |
178.61 |
Colorado |
178.16 |
Nebraska |
173.82 |
Nevada |
173.07 |
North Dakota |
171.48 |
Kansas |
160.59 |
South Dakota |
149.22 |
Utah |
116.94 |
Food stamps
More than 17 percent of Louisiana's population receives food stamps.
Louisiana |
104.52 |
West Virginia |
103.06 |
Mississippi |
100.73 |
Kentucky |
100.02 |
Tennessee |
97.83 |
Missouri |
95.07 |
Arkansas |
94.21 |
New Mexico |
86.68 |
Maine |
86.60 |
South Carolina |
85.49 |
Alabama |
83.44 |
Oklahoma |
82.91 |
Oregon |
81.00 |
Michigan |
79.97 |
Texas |
74.49 |
Illinois |
68.98 |
Georgia |
68.76 |
North Carolina |
66.79 |
New York |
66.14 |
Ohio |
65.82 |
Indiana |
64.14 |
Pennsylvania |
62.58 |
Washington |
59.85 |
Montana |
58.92 |
Arizona |
58.61 |
Vermont |
54.73 |
Iowa |
53.62 |
Delaware |
52.69 |
Alaska |
52.46 |
South Dakota |
52.23 |
Hawaii |
51.23 |
RhodeIsland |
49.49 |
Massachusetts |
48.78 |
Florida |
47.96 |
North Dakota |
46.77 |
Nebraska |
46.54 |
Virginia |
45.69 |
Kansas |
45.32 |
Wisconsin |
43.71 |
Connecticut |
43.41 |
Idaho |
42.66 |
California |
39.88 |
Maryland |
38.87 |
Colorado |
36.64 |
Utah |
34.35 |
New Jersey |
34.21 |
Minnesota |
33.52 |
Nevada |
32.31 |
Wyoming |
31.91 |
New Hampshire |
28.88 |
Sources: Government Accountability Office, Congressional Budget Office, United States Department of Agriculture, National Association of State Budget Officers and Center on Budget & Policy Priorities. All per capita figures were calculated using 2008 Census population estimates. Rankings do not include the District of Columbia.
Josh Goodman is a former staff writer for GOVERNING..