I may have to stop being a New York Yankees fan. The state of my birth is a national embarrassment. People in the Empire State are national champions in the contest to rip off their fellow citizens according to analysis from USA Today. West Virginia, however, is the biggest deadbeat state if handouts are compared to state income.
But kudos to the folks in Utah for swindling the least amount of money from other Americans (and perhaps secondary congratulations to the Mormon Church for emphasizing self reliance). Here’s an excerpt from the article.
New Yorkers get more government aid per person from social programs than residents of any other state, a USA TODAY analysis finds. …The state’s Medicaid program is the most expensive in the nation, driving the average cost of all government benefits in New Yorkto $9,442 per person. …USA TODAY analyzed data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Census Bureau to determine the importance of government benefits in each state. The benefit numbers represent average amounts received per person — not just for those in a program. The benefits include what people receive for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, veterans’ programs, college scholarships and many other government programs. …West Virginia…gets 28% of its income from government programs, more than any other state. The state’s residents are the second oldest, after Florida’s, and 20% collect disability.
Data for all states can be seen by clicking on the USA Today story, but here are the highlights (or lowlights), featuring the five states that have the highest per-capita mooching from the federal trough. And we also list the five states that deserve credit for being the most self-reliant.
Five Biggest Moocher States Top States for Being Self-Reliant
New York $9,442 Utah $4,731
West Virginia $9,138 Colorado $5,632
Rhode Island $8,955 Virginia $6,001
Maine $8,864 Nevada $6,080
Pennsylvania $8,616 Texas $6,167
