Here in a glance are the politics of each state, the most popular governors and the best performing states in terms of fiscal health, level of inequality, affordability, poverty rate, and labor market participation.
What are the patterns? What might they mean?
Sources: State Fiscal Rankings 2017 Edition /Eileen Norcross & Olivia Gonzalez; Mercatus Center at George Mason University https://www.mercatus.org/statefiscalrankings National Conference of State Legislatures, 2017 Legislative Partisan Composition as of November 8, 2017 http://www.ncsl.org/research/about-state-legislatures/partisan-composition.aspx#2017 California and New York Are Poorer than You Think by Ryan McMaken 11/12/2015 https://mises.org/blog/california-and-new-york-are-poorer-you-think 10 States With the Highest Labor Force Participation Rates By Casey Leins, Staff Writer |Nov. 29, 2017 https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/slideshows/these-10-states-have-the-highest-labor-force-participation-rates?int=news-recRepublicans take eight of the spots on the list of 10 most popular governors. https://morningconsult.com/state-governor-rankings/ The 10 Most Affordable States By Casey Leins, Staff Writer |May 6, 2017 https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/slideshows/the-10-most-affordable-states Americans Like Living in States With Less Income Inequality by Richard Florida, May 22, 2014 https://www.citylab.com/equity/2014/05/americans-like-living-in-states-with-less-income-inequality/371335/
A few explanations:
State Legislatures' Partisan Composition/Governors:
- Red = Republican
- Blue = Democrat
- Red+Blue = Split Legislature
- Nebraska's legislature is nonpartisan.
Best Fiscal Health:
- Cash solvency.
- Budget solvency.
- Long-run solvency.
- Service-level solvency.
- Trust fund solvency.
Least Income Equality: based on Gini Coefficient for each state
Most Affordable: based on cost of living and housing affordability
Lowest Poverty Rate: adjusted for local cost of living
Rating System for Best-Performing States:
- Star Performer: ***** (3+ x’s)
- Good Performer: **** (2 x’s)
- Decent Performer: *** (1 x)
See links in "sources" for additional information.