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Government benefits share of income: U.S. states ranked (2025)

Measure: Government benefits as a share of personal income (%, derived). All 50 states and District of Columbia with data in Government benefits per person by state, ranked from highest to lowest. Reference period: 2025.

Licence: Public domain (U.S. federal government work).
Data last updated: 2026-11-11

Download full table CSV Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (Table SAINC35) (opens in a new tab)

National value: 18.2 (United States).

Small states, hard to see on the map:

DC 12.1 %
RI 20.4 %
DE 23.3 %
CT 13.9 %
NJ 15.1 %
MD 16.1 %
MA 15.2 %
VT 20.5 %
NH 15.8 %

Lowest: 12.1 to 15.8 %
Group 2: 15.8 to 17.7 %
Group 3: 17.7 to 20.2 %
Group 4: 20.2 to 21.7 %
Highest: 21.7 to 30.1 %

The map is a visual summary; every value is in the table below, which is the keyboard and screen-reader path. Groups are quintiles of the values shown (a derived grouping). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain), simplified. Alaska and Hawaii are shown as insets, not to scale.

Rank is derived by Quadranac: 1 = highest value; ties share a rank. The ranked value is itself derived; see the source table for the method. Values are as published in the source table.

Note: BEA's state estimates for 2025 are preliminary and are revised each year.


1	West Virginia	30.1
2	Mississippi	27.6
3	New Mexico	26.4
4	Kentucky	26.2
5	Louisiana	24.3
6	Alabama	23.8
7	Delaware	23.3
8	Arkansas	23.1
8	South Carolina	23.1
10	Maine	22.9
11	Michigan	21.7
11	Oklahoma	21.7
13	North Carolina	21.5
13	Oregon	21.5
15	Ohio	21.2
16	Pennsylvania	21.1
17	Arizona	20.5
17	Vermont	20.5
19	Rhode Island	20.4
20	Missouri	20.3
21	Indiana	20.2
22	Tennessee	20.1
23	Iowa	19.5
24	Montana	19
25	Alaska	18.9
25	Florida	18.9
25	Wisconsin	18.9
28	Georgia	18.6
28	Kansas	18.6
30	Idaho	18.5
31	Minnesota	17.7
32	New York	17.5
33	Hawaii	17.4
34	Nevada	17.3
35	Illinois	16.9
36	Nebraska	16.8
37	California	16.4
37	South Dakota	16.4
39	Virginia	16.3
40	Maryland	16.1
41	New Hampshire	15.8
42	Texas	15.5
43	Massachusetts	15.2
43	North Dakota	15.2
45	New Jersey	15.1
46	Washington	15
47	Wyoming	14.6
48	Colorado	13.9
48	Connecticut	13.9
50	Utah	12.8
51	District of Columbia	12.1

Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Economic Accounts, Table SAINC35: Personal current transfer receipts
Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Economic Accounts, Table SAINC1: Personal income summary: personal income, population, per capita personal income. Reference period: 2025.

Cite this ranking

U.S. states ranked by government benefits as a share of personal income (%, derived) (2025). Data: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Data, SAINC35 Personal current transfer receipts and SAINC1 Personal income, population, per capita personal income (annual, by state); rank derived by Quadranac. Data last updated 2026-11-11. https://quadranac.com/rankings/us-states-by-government-benefits-as-a-share-of-personal-income/

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