The average per capita debt across all 50 states in 2018 was $3,600. Nineteen states were above this per-capita average, with 31 states below. In 2000, average state debt per capita was $1,942.
In 2018, the states with the least debt per capita were:
- Tennessee ($929 per capita)
- Nebraska ($1,068)
- Nevada ($1,135)
- Georgia ($1,266)
- Florida ($1,299).
The states with the highest debt per capita were:
- Massachusetts ($11,423)
- Connecticut ($11,280)
- Rhode Island ($8,593)
- Alaska ($8,011)
- and New York ($7,576).
The US Census Bureau defines debt as “all long-term credit obligations of the government and its agencies whether backed by the governments’ full faith and credit or non-guaranteed, and all interest-bearing short-term credit obligations,” and includes “judgments, mortgages, and revenue bonds, as well as general obligations bonds, notes, and interest-bearing warrants.” State debt includes financial arrangements where a state-affiliated institution (like a public university), a hospital, or a quasi-governmental authority (like a stadium district) issues debt that the state government guarantees, but the entity makes the debt payments. The definition does not include underfunded pension obligations as state debt.