The Mercatus Center of George Mason University has released its “Ranking the States by Fiscal Condition 2017 Edition.”  This ranking utilizes 2015 fiscal information.  While this ranking is not strictly a credit ranking (the structure of a bond is not a factor), it clearly provides a fairly uniform view of the fiscal health of all 50 states.  Because of the lag associated with the fiscal data, current issues may not be incorporated into the ranking.  For example, the ranking has Alaska as  “Above Average” but Moody’s just downgraded Alaska’s debt rating to Aa3 from Aa2.  (NXNW’s post about Alaska’s rating)

The ranking takes into account numerous financial factors, but with this ranking, the bottom five states (Maryland, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Illinois and New Jersey) have massive debt obligations and unfunded pension and healthcare (i.e. OPEB) liabilities.

Ranking the States by Fiscal Condition 2017 Edition