With the U.S. government experiencing its 23rd funding lapse since 1976, and its 11th actual shutdown, this time a partial one, the personal-finance company WalletHub recently released its report on the “States Most & Least Affected by the 2025 Government Shutdown” to add some hard data to all the rhetoric.
WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia in terms of five key metrics, ranging from each state’s share of federal jobs and federal contract dollars per capita to the share of families receiving food stamps.
The states ranked most affected by the shutdown were District of Columbia, Hawaii, New Mexico, Alaska, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Alabama, Oklahoma and Arizona.
The states determined least likely to be affected by the shutdown were Arkansas, North Dakota, Kansas, New Jersey, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Nebraska, Indiana, Iowa and Minnesota.
Key stats from this survey revealed:
- Red states are less affected by the government shutdown than Blue states, ranking 26.97 and 24.50, respectively, on average. (Lower rank = greater impact).
- New Mexico has the highest share of families receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance, 20.33 percent. That’s 4.1 times higher than in Wyoming, the state with the lowest at 4.9 percent.
- Wisconsin has the lowest share of federal jobs, at 1.07 percent. The average state has 2.4 times more federal jobs, at 2.62 percent.
“The latest government shutdown makes life stressful for people across the U.S., but places like D.C. and Hawaii, where a high percentage of residents work directly for the government or have government contracts, are getting hit the hardest,” WalletHub Analyst Chip Lupo said. “States with a lot of residents who receive SNAP benefits, such as New Mexico, also could be in a dire situation if money for this vital program runs out before the gridlock ends.
“Plus, states with real estate dependent economies are suffering from federal delays in mortgage processing, and states with a lot of national parks may hurt their tourism and revenue by not being able to offer certain park services,” Lupo added.