By Anita Balakrishnan
USA Today
States are mounting an uneven fiscal recovery from the Great Recession, with energy-rich states leading and Northeastern states with big pension obligations lagging, a new study shows.
Alaska, the Dakotas, Nebraska and Florida are on the most solid financial footing, according to rankings of the 50 states released Tuesday by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Illinois are at the bottom.
The Mercatus Center, a public policy research group, ranked the 50 states based on how well each state government planned spending in fiscal 2013 — the most recent year for which data was available — as well as their future financial prospects. from annual budgeting to cash to pay bills, to funding for pensions and long-term plans.
Of the top five states, the Dakotas, Nebraska and Alaska raked in revenue from national resources like oil.
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