Ranked: U.S. States Most Dependent on the Federal Government

Pallavi Rao
2025-06-22 11:08:00
www.visualcapitalist.com

See this visualization first on the Voronoi app.

Ranked: U.S. States Most Dependent on the Federal Government

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Key Takeaways

Twenty states—including DC—received more in tax returns from the federal government than they paid through taxes in 2024.
Of these, 11 voted Republican in the last three out of five presidential elections.

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.

We rank the states to see who benefits the most from the flows so readers can see the fiscal winners and losers at a glance.

Data for this visualization comes from MoneyGeek, which uses Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis figures.

Their dependency score blends two metrics: the state’s return‐on‐taxes ratio and the share of state revenues coming from federal sources.

Return on taxes measures how much state residents—including businesses—receive in federal payments for every $1 paid in tax to the federal government.

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.

Ranked: States That Need the Federal Government the Most

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.

Rank	State	Political Affiliation	Dependency Score	Return on Taxes	% of State Revenues From Federal Funding
1	New Mexico	Blue	100	$3.42	30.7%
2	West Virginia	Red	95	$2.91	27.0%
3	Alaska	Red	94	$2.65	29.0%
4	Mississippi	Red	91	$2.66	25.9%
5	District of Columbia	Blue	88	$1.71	32.2%
6	Alabama	Red	86	$1.90	26.7%
7	Kentucky	Red	84	$1.68	30.1%
8	Arizona	Red	80	$1.62	28.5%
9	Montana	Red	80	$1.43	31.8%
10	Maine	Blue	79	$1.78	23.3%
11	Hawaii	Blue	77	$1.94	20.6%
12	Louisiana	Red	76	$1.33	29.8%
13	Maryland	Blue	76	$1.79	21.2%
14	Virginia	Blue	72	$1.91	18.2%
15	South Carolina	Red	64	$1.60	19.5%
16	Idaho	Red	61	$1.15	21.8%
17	Michigan	Blue	60	$0.99	22.9%
18	North Dakota	Red	60	$0.96	26.6%
19	Oklahoma	Red	60	$1.30	20.7%
20	Wyoming	Red	58	$0.91	28.9%
21	Pennsylvania	Blue	55	$0.92	24.0%
22	Indiana	Red	55	$0.92	25.7%
23	Oregon	Blue	50	$1.21	17.5%
24	Vermont	Blue	49	$1.50	12.8%
25	Connecticut	Blue	49	$1.09	17.6%
26	New Hampshire	Blue	44	$0.90	21.0%
27	Arkansas	Red	42	$0.85	22.7%
28	North Carolina	Red	42	$0.88	21.5%
29	South Dakota	Red	39	$0.97	15.0%
30	Iowa	Red	38	$0.97	15.5%
31	Rhode Island	Blue	35	$0.76	25.7%
32	Tennessee	Red	35	$0.81	20.9%
33	Kansas	Red	31	$0.89	16.8%
34	Texas	Red	29	$0.75	22.9%
35	Utah	Red	29	$0.79	18.7%
36	Florida	Red	28	$0.79	18.9%
37	Nevada	Blue	28	$0.88	16.4%
38	Wisconsin	Blue	26	$0.85	17.5%
39	Georgia	Red	26	$0.78	19.1%
40	Colorado	Blue	21	$0.78	17.5%
41	Ohio	Red	19	$0.66	21.0%
42	Delaware	Blue	19	$0.46	26.3%
43	Illinois	Blue	18	$0.76	17.5%
44	Massachusetts	Blue	17	$0.60	22.5%
45	Missouri	Red	16	$0.70	18.7%
46	Nebraska	Red	11	$0.65	18.1%
47	New York	Blue	8	$0.65	17.7%
48	California	Blue	8	$0.73	14.5%
49	Minnesota	Blue	7	$0.71	14.6%
50	Washington	Blue	0	$0.59	16.5%
51	New Jersey	Blue	0	$0.51	17.2%

Note: The tax return ratio was given double-weight in the final score.

West Virginia, Alaska, and Mississippi follow closely, each exceeding $2.60 in returns and relying on federal transfers for more than a quarter of state revenues.

The outlier is the District of Columbia: despite a lower tax return multiple ($1.71), 32% of its revenue comes from the federal government. This is unsurprising given its role as the nation’s administrative hub.

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.

Their contributions effectively subsidize public services elsewhere—fueling perennial debates over tax fairness and redistribution.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

For more insights, cross-reference this post with Visualizing $29 Trillion Economy by State on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

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