Indiana ranks low in actual independence
July 6, 2021Celebrating Independence Day means a little more for some states than others, at least in terms of being independent and self-sufficient.
A report from personal finance website WalletHub showed which states were the most-self-sufficient, and Indiana ranked 45th in terms of where Americans are the most self-reliant despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
To determine the ranking, WalletHub compared five sources of dependency: consumer finances, the government, the job market, international trade and personal vices. Those categories were broken down into 39 key indicators.
“Indiana is the sixth-least independent state. It has high foreclosure and bankruptcy rates, which translate to the financial dependency of its residents,” WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez said. “The state also depends a lot on the federal government, and has the largest share of occupied subsidized housing units.”
Indiana ranked near the top in job market dependency, coming in 11th, but it ranked poorly in financial dependency at 30th and government dependency at 45th.
“Indiana has approximately 60 opioid prescriptions per 100 persons and large shares of adult smokers – almost 20% – and social network uses – over 78%,” Gonzalez said. “These are all various vice dependencies, to which we can add the large amount of time spent watching TV – more than 3.5 hours per day.”
Utah ranked as the country’s most self-reliant state, followed by Colorado, Nebraska, Virginia and Kansas. The worst was Louisiana, followed by Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina and Alaska.
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