Republicans dominate the executive and legislative branches of all five of the financially healthiest state governments, while, at the opposite end, Democrats exercise total control of the five states with the biggest debts, as measured by the Truth-in-Accounting (TIA) nonprofit watchdog.

The TIA report — the 17th annual edition of the nonprofit’s “Financial State of the States” — compares how much each of the 50 state governments have in terms of assets and liabilities, then computes how much each resident would receive in states with a surplus, and how big a new tax bill each tax-paying resident of deficit-ridden jurisdictions would face. The compilation in this news story of partisan affiliations of the state governments involved was done by The Washington Stand, not TIA.

The healthiest state in the Union is North Dakota, which TIA topped the list despite a decline in revenues from oil and natural gas.

“In 2025, North Dakota’s financial situation improved. It ended the year with $21 billion more than it needed to pay its bills. That means the state had a Taxpayer Surplus™ of $72,300 and earned an ‘A’ grade from Truth in Accounting. North Dakota reported revenues exceeding expenses,” the TIA report said.

“While oil, gas, and coal tax revenues declined due to lower energy prices, the decrease was offset by strong investment earnings and federal grant revenue. North Dakota’s financial position continued to benefit from the Legacy Fund, a state investment fund built from oil tax revenues. Unlike many states, North Dakota maintains a strong balance sheet that provides capacity to absorb revenue fluctuations and unforeseen fiscal pressures,” the report continued.

North Dakota Republicans hold the top three executive branch positions — governor, attorney general and secretary of State — as well as controlling majorities in both the state Senate and state House in the legislative branch.

At the opposite end of the rankings is New Jersey, with just $56.8 billion to fund $219.1 billion in outstanding debt. Every New Jersey resident would have to pay $45,800 in taxes to eliminate the deficit. The biggest share of the outstanding debt is in unfunded pension and retiree health care benefits. The former debt is more than $79 billion, while the latter exceeds $91 billion.

Just as Republicans control all of the major offices in North Dakota state government, Democrats occupy New Jersey’s three most important executive branch positions, and Democrats have majorities in both chambers of the state’s legislature.

Alaska is the nation’s second healthiest state government, according to TIA, with a surplus valued at $64,200 per resident. Alaska Republicans occupy the three highest executive branch positions, and the GOP controls the state Senate, but Democrats hold the lower chamber.

Wyoming is the third healthiest of the state governments, with a surplus valued at $30,300, followed by Utah at $14,900 and Tennessee at $11,400. Republicans hold all of the top executive branch positions, as well as control of both chambers of these states’ legislatures.

Connecticut is the second least healthy state government, according to the TIA report, with every resident having to pay an additional $41,400 in taxes to restore the Nutmeg State’s financial health. Third is Illinois, with a deficit per resident of $36,900, followed by Massachusetts, where $24,100 would have to be paid by each resident, and California at $16,000.

Democrats control all three top executive branch positions and both state legislative bodies for all five of the least healthy state governments.

Some surprises are found elsewhere in TIA’s ranking of the 50 states. Texas, for example, is known for its huge fossil fuel industry and reserves, as well as for being the destination of thousands of Californians fleeing that state’s high cost of living, soaring crime, bureaucratic suffocation, and one-party rule. But the Lone Star State ranks only 27th and would require an additional $400 from each resident to balance its books.

Even so, Texas enjoyed the second biggest population increase at more than 67,000 new residents in 2025, exceeded only by North Carolina, which ranked 10th on the TIA compilation and showed a gain of more than 84,000 new residents.

Together, the top five states gained nearly 48,000 new residents, while the bottom five lost almost 350,000, with California the biggest loser at 229,000.

New York ranks 36th on the TIA ranking, with each resident having to pay another $6,700, while Great Plains and Southern states dominate the sixth through 20th positions of the healthiest states, including Iowa, Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Idaho in the central portion of the United States, and North Carolina, Arkansas, Virginia, Oklahoma, and Georgia in the South.

“Collectively, all 50 states had $2.23 trillion in assets available to pay their bills. However, their total debt, including unfunded retirement benefit obligations, reached $2.85 trillion. This debt includes $775 billion in pension liabilities and $490 billion in other post-employment benefits (OPEB), primarily from retiree healthcare costs,” the TIA report said.

“Twenty-four states still carry significant debt burdens, driven by rising costs, inflation, and ongoing pressure to fund promised pension benefits. The investment markets have also significantly affected how government debt is reported. When markets perform well, the value of investments held by public pension systems often increases. These higher valuations offset the estimated cost of promised pension benefits, making a state’s pension debt appear lower. However, these are unrealized, or ‘paper,’ gains, not actual profits. In volatile markets, these gains can quickly evaporate, causing pension debt to rise and increasing the overall reported debt burden,” the report continued.

The TIA report pointed out that every state but Vermont has balanced-budget requirements, but too often what officials present as balanced expenditures do not reflect the whole truth about their expenditures.

“How can states rack up debt while simultaneously balancing their budgets? States balance budgets by using accounting tricks such as the following:

• Inflating revenue
• Counting borrowed money as
• Understating the actual costs of
• Delaying the payment of current bills until the start of the next fiscal year so they aren’t included in the budget

“The most common accounting trick states use is hiding a large portion of employee compensation from the budgeting process. Employee compensation includes retirement benefits such as healthcare, life insurance, and pensions. States become obligated to pay for these benefits as employees earn them.

“Although retirement benefits are not paid until employees retire, they still represent current compensation costs because employees earn and incur them throughout their tenure. Furthermore, money must be put into the retirement fund to accumulate investment earnings.”