2018’s Most & Least Independent States

From Wallet Hub, Jun 19, 2018

Americans value independence. We fought hard for it during the American Revolutionary War. Today, however, we celebrate not only our freedom from the British crown but also our strong ability to rely upon ourselves as individuals. It’s a virtue we bring up in our children, employees and organizations.

But what does it mean for whole populations to be “independent” in the modern sense of the word?

In this report, WalletHub’s data team addressed that question by comparing the 50 states based on five sources of dependency: consumer finances, the government, the job market, international trade and personal vices. We broke down these categories into 39 key indicators of independence in order to determine which states are most self-sustaining….

read … Full Report

Hawaii

6 -- Overall Rank (1 = Most Independent)

61.26 -- Total Score

10 -- ‘Financial Dependency’ Rank

14 -- ‘Government Dependency’ Rank

17 -- ‘Job-Market Dependency’ Rank

9 -- ‘International-Trade Dependency’ Rank

25 -- ‘Vice Dependency’ Rank

4 – Median Credit Score

50 – Median Household Income (adj for Cost of Living)

1—Lowest Unemployment Rate

1- Lowest Percentage of Jobs Supported by Exported Goods

1- Lowest Percentage of State GDP Supported by Exports to Other Countries 

(NOTE: Tourism is an export—WalletHub seems to have missed this.)