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Which states have the highest and lowest welfare program funding per capita in 2025?
Executive Summary
The available materials do not supply a definitive, state-by-state ranking of welfare program funding per capita for 2025; the closest direct data points are older state per-capita welfare figures [1] and varied state-level Medicaid and welfare spending breakdowns that stop short of an explicit 2025 per-capita ranking. Key usable data: a public-welfare-per-capita table from 2022 showing Massachusetts, New Mexico, and Alaska at the top and Connecticut at the bottom (Rockefeller/Census compilation) and 2023–2025 analyses of national and program-specific spending (Medicaid, SSI, federal/state totals) that allow partial inference but not a conclusive 2025 per-capita list [2] [3] [4].
1. Why the simple “which state is highest/lowest in 2025” question trips on data gaps
No single cited source provides a full state-by-state, per-capita welfare funding list specifically for 2025; federal projections and program-level reports aggregate national totals or show program-specific per-enrollee figures rather than consolidated state-per-person welfare spending. The US government spending dashboards estimate total welfare spending for 2026 and provide tables that can be toggled to states, but the provided extracts do not include a downloaded 2025 state-per-capita table, leaving the question unanswered in the available material. Analysts relying on Medicaid-per-enrollee variation and 2022 per-capita tables can approximate patterns, but these are not direct 2025 per-capita figures and require demographic adjustments and assumptions to convert program totals into per-person state measures [3] [2].
2. What the most direct state-level evidence shows and its limits
The most direct state-per-capita evidence in the packet is a Rockefeller Institute / Census-derived table for public welfare expenditures per capita in 2022, which lists Massachusetts (highest at 4,545), New Mexico [5] [6], and Alaska [5] [7] near the top and Connecticut [8] [9] near the bottom. This is the only explicit per-capita ranking provided across states, but it is dated to 2022, making it an imperfect proxy for 2025 because state budgets, Medicaid enrollment, and federal reimbursements shift year to year. Using 2022 per-capita figures as a stand-in for 2025 risks misranking states that experienced significant pandemic-era shifts, Medicaid expansion changes, or budgetary adjustments between 2022 and 2025 [2].
3. Program-specific findings that reshape the picture if you disaggregate
Medicaid shows wide state variation per enrollee: a 2023–2025 analysis finds spending per enrollee ranges from roughly $4,780 to $12,295, with low per-enrollee spending in states such as Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Nevada and high per-enrollee spending in Washington, D.C., Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and North Dakota. This program-level divergence matters because Medicaid comprises the bulk of welfare dollars; states with high Medicaid per-enrollee spending can rank much higher in total per-capita welfare spending even if other programs are modest. Conversely, states with low Medicaid payments per enrollee will depress per-capita totals unless they compensate with other state-funded welfare programs [4].
4. Federal programs and supplements complicate state comparisons
Federal programs like SSI have uniform federal payment levels nationwide, with some states offering supplemental payments. The SSI data indicate a consistent federal baseline ($10,970.44 for individuals annually in 2025) but state supplements vary, which complicates per-capita totals when many states add small supplements and a few add substantial ones. National aggregate estimates (e.g., $2.825 trillion for welfare in 2026, including $1.93 trillion for Medicaid) show the scale but do not allocate those dollars per state in the provided excerpts; using these aggregates to infer state per-capita rankings requires slicing federal formulas, state supplemental policy, and local spending patterns not present in the current extracts [10] [3].
5. Bottom line and how to get a conclusive 2025 answer
Based on provided materials, the only explicit per-capita state ranking is for 2022, which names Massachusetts, New Mexico, and Alaska high and Connecticut low; no sourced document in the packet supplies a validated 2025 state-per-capita ranking. To produce an authoritative 2025 list, compile state and local welfare expenditures for 2025 (or the latest fiscal year), add state shares of federally administered programs where applicable, and divide by midyear 2025 population — data accessible by exporting the government-spending dashboard at the state level and cross-checking with state budget reports and Census population estimates [2] [3] [4].