New Jersey ranks among highest in nation for debt per resident
New Jersey's total debt sits at a staggering $213.4 billion.
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New Jersey ranks among the highest in the nation for state debt per resident.
A new report from the Reason Foundation shows the state has the second-highest per-person debt, behind only Connecticut.
While states like California and New York carry larger overall debt, their bigger populations spread out the burden.
In New Jersey, total state debt is about $213 billion.
Broken down, that comes out to nearly $23,000 for every resident.
California has nearly $500 billion in total debt, but its per-person amount is about $12,500 — almost half of New Jersey’s.
The report ranks the highest debt per resident as follows:
Connecticut: about $26,000
New Jersey: about $23,000
Hawaii: about $19,000
Delaware: about $17,500
Illinois: about $17,400
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Tennessee and Utah holds the lowest debt per resident in the country. Tennessee's per-capita debt burden is more than 13 times lower than Connecticut's and significantly lower than New Jersey's.
