Wyoming’s Budget Surplus Is Impressive

While the state of Wyoming has had its money issues, for the most part, it has kept its budget balanced, unlike other states.

A balanced budget is in the state constitution as a mandate, so lawmakers have to make it happen.

This, according to a new report published by the nonprofit Chicago-based Truth in Accounting.

TIA’s 16th annual Financial State of the States report analyzes states’ financial health.

25 state governments don’t have enough money to pay their bills.

The top 5 worst states for budget deficits are New Jersey and Connecticut, each with taxpayer burdens in the BILLIONS of $44,500, followed by Illinois (-$38,800), Massachusetts (-$24,900) and California (-$21,800). Delaware, Louisiana, Vermont, Kentucky, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Hawaii, Mississippi, Rhode Island, New York, South Carolina, Alabama, New Mexico, Michigan, Washington, Nevada, Kansas, Ohio, Texas, and New Hampshire make up the remaining 25 Sinkhole States.

The top 5 states with comfortable surpluses in the BILLIONS are North Dakota (+$63,300), Alaska (+$48,500), Wyoming (+$27,200), Utah (+$14,400), and Tennessee (+$10,900). Iowa, Nebraska, Montana, South Dakota, Idaho, Minnesota, Virginia, Arkansas, Oregon, West Virginia, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Indiana, Georgia, Florida, Arizona, Colorado, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Maine make up the rest of the 25 states with surpluses.

BUT HOLD ON, some states are too embarrassed to report.

Not all states submitted their information, and they are dragging their feet for obvious reasons. Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, Mississippi, California, and Oklahoma. “Alarmingly, Nevada had also not yet released its 2023 report, so 2022 data was used for that state,” TIA says.

Wyoming has had to make some hard choices in the past decade when it comes to spending.

The state's boom and bust cycle, plus the COVID shutdown, along with the Obama and Biden administrations' push toward wind and solar while attempting to shut down coal,l gas, and oil, have cost the state dearly in economic growth.

When times got tough, the state made many cuts that it did not want to but needed to.