Study: Most Financially Independent States. How’d Massachusetts Do?

Here's a question for you, Berkshire County friends and neighbors: When it comes to money, would you consider yourself reasonably self-sufficient? Not many people that I know personally would consider themselves to be financially independent that's for sure.

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But what about the state of Massachusetts as a whole? Do you think the Commonwealth is financially independent, especially with high inflation everywhere you look?

The personal finance experts at WalletHub wanted to take a closer look at all 50 states and compare them across 39 key metrics to see which states are the most and least independent in 2023.

The metrics looked at by WalletHub measured how dependent Americans are on the government and other people for finances, their jobs, and personal vices such as the share of adults saving for their child's (or children's) college education, average credit scores, median household income, percentage of households with rainy-day funds, and more.

The end result? Massachusetts fared very well. In fact, Massachusetts ranked within the top 5 in several key metrics, placing the Bay State in the top 10 Most Independent States overall!

Here is the official top 10 list for 2023's Most Independent States, according to WalletHub:

1. Utah
2. Colorado
3. Florida
4. Washington
5. Virginia
6. California
7. Idaho
8. Massachusetts
9. Wisconsin
10. Iowa

Pretty sweet, huh? And, not only is Massachusetts the only New England state to rank in the top 10, New Hampshire is the only other New England state to make the top 20 (#18)! Here are the top 5 Least Independent States in 2023, per WalletHub:

1. Louisiana
2. Mississippi
3. Kentucky
4. Alaska
5. West Virginia

Do yourself a favor and check out the full rankings for yourself at WalletHub's website here. It's a pretty fascinating read and, as always, a shout of thanks to WalletHub for doing all the hard work!