Posted by: John S Kiernan

As the clock struck midnight on the 45th president’s first year in office, the United States government shut down for the 19th time in history. And right on cue, both sides of the political aisle began attempting to assign blame and assume the moral high ground with the aid of hashtags and tales of children at risk. But this isn’t just another soap opera from the swamp, for the swamp. History and hard data tell us the gears of government grinding to a halt will have nationwide consequences, hurting red states and blue states alike. To determine whose homes a government shutdown strikes closest to, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across six key metrics. They range from each state’s share of federal jobs and contracts to the percentage of kids covered by the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). You can check out the findings below, followed by the complete methodology used.

1. Main Findings
2. Red States vs. Blue States
3. Methodology

Main Findings

Embed on your website<iframe src="//d2e70e9yced57e.cloudfront.net/wallethub/embed/1111/geochart-gov-shutdown.html" width="556" height="347" frameBorder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> <div style="width:556px;font-size:12px;color:#888;">Source: <a href="http://ift.tt/2Dq4PLy>  

Most & Least Affected States

Overall Rank (1 = Most Affected)	State	Total Score		Overall Rank (1 = Most Affected)	State	Total Score
1	Maryland	70.00		27	Missouri	29.85
2	Virginia	66.08		28	Vermont	29.83
3	District of Columbia	63.95		29	New Hampshire	29.21
4	Alaska	58.67		30	New Jersey	27.72
5	Hawaii	54.52		31	Nevada	27.12
6	New Mexico	54.17		32	South Carolina	27.11
7	Montana	40.75		33	Florida	26.80
8	Colorado	40.57		34	Pennsylvania	26.66
9	Arizona	40.13		35	Wisconsin	25.95
10	Utah	38.68		36	Kentucky	25.55
11	Washington	38.67		37	Oregon	24.76
12	Maine	37.68		38	Arkansas	22.96
13	Idaho	36.91		39	Kansas	22.88
14	Alabama	36.50		40	Nebraska	22.56
15	Rhode Island	35.95		41	Minnesota	22.28
16	California	35.94		42	Tennessee	21.71
17	Oklahoma	35.23		43	Illinois	21.17
18	Mississippi	35.17		44	North Carolina	20.82
19	Wyoming	34.37		45	Ohio	20.73
20	Georgia	33.52		46	Delaware	20.13
21	Connecticut	32.52		47	Iowa	20.12
22	West Virginia	32.15		48	New York	20.08
23	Texas	31.34		49	Louisiana	19.50
24	North Dakota	31.26		50	Indiana	18.54
25	Massachusetts	30.07		51	Michigan	17.92
26	South Dakota	30.05

 

Red States vs. Blue States

 

Methodology

States depend on the federal government for a great deal, from employment to key benefits. To measure the relative impact of the January 2018 government shutdown on each state, as well as the District of Columbia, WalletHub identified six basic metrics that speak to how people across the country will be affected by the absence of government services.

Finally, we analyzed publicly available data from official sources to score the shutdown’s impact by state, according to the following rubric. Each metric was scored on a 100-point scale, with 100 representing the biggest impact from the government shutdown. We then calculated a weighted average of all the metrics, using this overall score to construct our final ranking.

• Share of Federal Jobs: Full WeightNote: This metric measures the federal employment as a share of total employment.
• Federal Contract Dollars Per Capita: Full Weight
• % of Children under CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program): Full Weight
• Small Business Lending: Half WeightNote: This metric measures both the average SBA 7a loan size and the % of small businesses that get SBA 7a loans.
• Real Estate as Percentage of Gross State Product: Quarter WeightNote: Gross State Product is the equivalent of GDP but at the state level. Mortgage processing will be affected by staffing shortages in the IRS, FHA and VA.
• Access to National Parks: Quarter WeightNote: This metric measures both the number of national parks per capita and the acres of national parks per capita.

 

Sources: Data used to create these rankings were obtained from the Department of Education, the U.S. Small Business Administration, Realtor.org, the Brookings Institute, FedsDataCenter.com, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

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