Analysis: Hawaii Has Largest Debt Burden Among States
Hawaii’s ratio of debt to residents’ personal income ranks the highest in the nation, according to a new analysis by Fitch Ratings.
Hawaii’s unfunded pension liabilities — which totaled $8.15 billion at last count — played a big factor. Fitch said it combined each state’s net tax-supported debt with unfunded pension obligations.
“Hawaii’s combined ratio is about 26 percent of personal income, the highest value among rated states, compared with 9.2 percent for tax-supported debt, second highest. Connecticut ranked third at almost 23 percent, followed by Kentucky at about 22 percent,” Bloomberg News reported.
“’Fourteen of the 43 states rated by Fitch have a combined liability greater than 10 percent,’ Douglas Offerman and other Fitch analysts in New York said in the study. ‘States with the highest combined metrics, including Hawaii, Illinois, Connecticut, and Kentucky, have seen credit deterioration in recent years reflecting in part their liability burdens.’”
