For the second year, 24/7 Wall St. has reviewed data on financial, health, standard of living and government services by state to determine how well each state is managed. Based on this data, 24/7 Wall St. ranked the 50 states from the best to worst run. The best-run state is Wyoming. The worst-run state is California. And Texas falls right in the middle at 25 but we tie with California for worst in the country in one category.
25. Texas
- State debt per capita: $1,240 (2nd lowest)
- Pct. without health insurance: 23.7% (the highest)
- Pct. below poverty line: 17.0% (9th highest)
- Unemployment: 8.5% (23rd highest)
Texas managed to spend the third least per capita in 2009, and as a partial consequence has the second lowest debt per capita, a mere $1,240 per person. Austere spending comes at a price, however. Nearly a quarter of the state’s residents are without health insurance. Also, only 80.9% of Texans 25 years or older graduated from high school. While this is an improvement from its 2003 rate of 77%, it is tied with California for worst among all states.
Read more: Best and Worst Run States in America — An Analysis Of All 50 – 24/7 Wall St.
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And what do Texas and California have in common? One is Democratic, the other Republican. One is high tax, the other low tax. Yet both have a high rate of uninsured residents and a low graduation rate. Maybe “net benefit” is a gross overstatement? Maybe even the federal government should have aided these border states in their quest to stop the taxpayer subsiding of small business owners profits?