The states of the U.S. are diverse in terms of social and economic trends. Times of national crisis can often exemplify such trends. A series of analyses conducted by WalletHub, drawn from different surveys, highlights the extent of disparity between different states.
Digital Journal presents some of the findings below.
Economic factors
To assess which U.S. states are most vulnerable economically, WalletHub used 10 key metrics. The metrics ranged from the share of employment by small businesses to the share of a state’s GDP coming from highly affected industries and increases in unemployment insurance claims.
The assessment showed the states with the most exposed economies to be:
1. Louisiana
2. Rhode Island
3. Nevada
4. Maine
5. New Hampshire
6. Pennsylvania
7. Montana
8. New Jersey
9. Massachusetts
10. Illinois
In comparison, the state with the strongest economy was found to be Georgia followed by California, Alaska, Oregon, and Utah.
Stress and anxiety
To determine the states with the highest stress levels, WalletHub compared the 50 states across 41 key metrics. The metrics ranged from average hours worked per week to personal bankruptcy rate to share of adults getting adequate sleep.
The data patterns showed the most stressed states to be:
1. Louisiana
2. Mississippi
3. New Mexico
4. Arkansas
5. West Virginia
6. Nevada
7. Kentucky
8. Alabama
9. Oklahoma
10. Alaska
In contrast, the least stressed state was Minnesota, followed by North and South Dakota. Making up the least stressed top five were Iowa and Utah. This was due to factors like low unemployment rates, physical health data and psychological case study trends.
Tourism
With declining travel likely to wipe out 5.9 million jobs and with the tourism industry greatly impacted by social distancing, WalletHub has looked at the states most greatly impacted by COVID-19’s in terms of tourism. To identify the states where tourism is most affected by COVID-19, various metrics were used, including the share of businesses in travel and tourism-related industries to travel spending per travel employee and presence of stay-at-home orders.
The outcome was that the states most significantly impacted in terms of hits to the tourism sector are:
1. Hawaii
2. Montana
3. Nevada
4. Vermont
5. Massachusetts
6. Florida
7. New Hampshire
8. District of Columbia
9. New York
10. California
In contrast the states less reliant on tourism, in terms of the top five, are: Arkansas, Iowa, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Alabama.
As an example of how the data ranges, New York recorded the highest share of businesses in travel and tourism-related food industries, at 12 percent. This stands at nearly two-times higher than in Utah, which records the lowest value for this metric, at 7 percent.
