Report: Indiana among states least-affected by federal government shutdown

INDIANAPOLIS — A new report from WalletHub indicates that Indiana is one of the U.S. states that has been least-affected by the federal government shutdown that began at the beginning of October.

According to WalletHub, this shutdown is the 11th the U.S. government has faced since 1976. The longest shutdown on record lasted 35 days and spanned from the end of 2018 to the beginning of 2019.

Per WalletHub’s report, 900,000 federal workers have been furloughed and 700,000 more are currently working without pay. WalletHub’s report indicates that the federal government shutdown could cost the U.S. economy about $400 million per day.

WalletHub determined which states were most and least-affected by the federal government shutdown using the following metrics:

• Share of federal jobs per state
• Federal contract dollars per capita
• Percentage of families receiving SNAP benefits
• Real estate as a percentage of Gross State Product
• Access to national parks

In those categories, Indiana ranked 44th, 43rd, 37th, 42nd and 49th, respectively. Overall, Indiana was 49th on WalletHub’s list of states most and least-affected by the federal government shutdown.

WalletHub’s list counted Washington D.C. as a state and listed it as the state most-affected by the federal government shutdown. Only Iowa and Minnesota are less-affected by the federal government shutdown than Indiana, according to WalletHub.

WalletHub’s list of the top 10 states most-affected by the government shutdown are as follows:

1. Washington D.C.
2. Hawaii
3. New Mexico
4. Alaska
5. Maryland
6. Virginia
7. West Virginia
8. Alabama
9. Oklahoma
10. Arizona

To read WalletHub’s full report, click here.