U.S. State Government Debt per Capita · A 13x Spread Between States
State debt per resident runs from $2.0K to $26.2K — a 13x spread across a single country. Connecticut tops the table at $26.2K, followed by New Jersey ($23.0K), Hawaii ($18.9K), Delaware ($17.5K) and Illinois ($17.4K). At the other end sit Utah and Tennessee at $2.0K, with Nebraska ($2.5K) and Idaho ($2.6K) close behind. The driver at the top is pensions rather than roads or schools: decades of underfunding leave Connecticut owing more than Florida in absolute terms, and Illinois alone carries over $11.3K per resident in pension debt. Texas sits mid-table at $7.4K.
Why this matters for B2B
State balance sheets set the medium-term tax and spending climate a wholesaler operates in. Heavily indebted states face pressure to raise taxes or trim public procurement — a headwind for anyone selling into schools, municipalities and public facilities. Low-debt, fast-growing states such as Utah, Idaho and Tennessee have more room to fund infrastructure and keep business costs down, which usually shows up first in construction and fit-out demand. Texas's mid-table position is part of why Houston works as a distribution base. Read alongside household debt-to-income by state, U.S. household incomes, and our U.S. market hub.
Source: Reason Foundation (state government debt per capita; data as of 2023, latest available as of June 2026; figures rounded). Visualization: Visual Capitalist / Voronoi. Original infographic reproduced above with source attribution intact.