Is your state a donor? Here are the areas that contribute more in taxes but receive less in return
Trump has threatened to cut off federal funding to California prompting Governor Gavin Newsom to question why the state should continue to be a donor.
The Trump administration is considering eliminating federal funding for California’s university system which prompted Governor Gavin Newsom to posit whether the state should stop sending its tax dollars to the federal government. In a post on social media he said that “Californians pay the bills for the federal government.”
As one of the most populous states in the US with one of the highest concentrations of high-income residents, the state sends more tax dollars to the federal government than it receives to the tune of over $80 billion. It isn’t alone in its status as a ‘donor state’ with at least ten other states that give more to Uncle Sam than they get.
The donor states in the US
The Rockefeller Institute of Government published its seventh report in 2024 examining the amount of federal funding every state generates and receives. The most recent data looks at the balance of payments for the 2022 fiscal year. There were 11 states that sent the federal government more money than they received when covid-19 funding was taken into consideration.
These are the following states that are ‘donors’ in the US:
| Balance of payments | per captia | |
|---|---|---|
| California | $83 billion | $2,129 |
| New Jersey | $28.9 billion | $3,123 |
| Massachusetts | $27 billion | $3,873 |
| Washington | $17.8 billion | $2,289 |
| New York | $7.1 billion | $361 |
| Minnesota | $4.5 billion | $779 |
| Colorado | $2.9 billion | $511 |
| Illinois | $2.6 billion | $209 |
| New Hampshire | $2.4 billion | $1,736 |
| Connecticut | $1.9 billion | $516 |
| Utah | $709 million | $210 |
However, without those funds there were 13 that were in the donor category with Nevada and Wyoming added to the list.
The gap between the amount California sends to the federal treasury and what it gets back rises to nearly $126.5 billion without covid-19 assistance funds. However, by per capita residents of Massachusetts sent the most of any state in 2022 at $3,873 per person with covid-19 funds and $4,846 without.
Are the other states mooching off Uncle Sam?
States with residents that have lower incomes tend to receive more money from the federal government than they send because they get more funds for Medicaid and other financial assistance programs that help alleviate poverty.
However, the two states that have the largest positive gap, i.e. they get more than they give, are Maryland and Virginia. These two states surround Washington DC, the seat of the federal government, and are home to several military bases.
This means that they receive an outsized portion of federal spending even though they rank as two of the states with the highest median income.
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