PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island ranks No. 43 on Conning’s annual State of the States credit quality report, which measures municipal-bond credit quality.
The Ocean State’s ranking fell from No. 34 one year prior, but was an improvement from its ranking in 2019 of No. 47.
Rhode Island's Market Has Changed. Developers, Builders, Investors and Sellers Must Change With It.
By Emilio DiSpirito IV License Partner | Engel & Völkers Oceanside Leader | The DiSpirito…
Learn More
Conning is an investment-management firm that serves the insurance industry.
The report released on Tuesday measures state credit quality across several metrics, including economic activity, tax climate, population growth and tax revenue and debt, among others.
Rhode Island’s best five individual metric rankings included being ranked No. 5 for personal income growth year over year, No. 7 for home price index growth, No. 16 for personal income per capita, No. 27 for tax growth revenue and No. 29 for gross domestic product per capita.
The state’s worst rankings included No. 49 for reserves, No. 44 for employment growth, No. 43 for average unemployment rate, No. 43 for population growth and No. 40 for economic debt.
Overall, Utah ranked highest among all states in the 2021 rankings, while Hawaii ranked last. Utah has ranked No. 1 in the report for six straight years.
Rhode Island ranked lowest among all New England states.
Other New England rankings in the report:
- Maine ranked No. 12
- New Hampshire ranked No. 20
- Vermont ranked No. 29
- Connecticut ranked No. 32
- Massachusetts ranked No. 36
The report noted that while the pandemic abruptly ended the longest economic expansion in United States history and significantly impacted state economies, federal stimulus packages have bolstered states’ finances. Conning said that, unexpectedly, the pandemic had little impact on states’ credit quality, in part due to federal aid, resilient sales tax revenue and an outsized share of layoffs occurring in lower-paid jobs, which minimized income tax collection impacts, as well as a recovery in the investment market.
“Following the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, we now expect that outperformance to continue in the majority of states,” the report said.
The full report may be found online.
