PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island ranked No. 28 in the nation in Conning Inc.’s “State of the States Spring 2018” report released this week, measuring and ranking states’ fiscal and credit conditions.
The report noted that Rhode Island’s fiscal condition improved from May to October. The state’s three top rankings among metrics in the report were for one-year home price change (No. 9 in the U.S.), gross domestic product growth (No. 10 in the U.S.) and employment growth (No. 12 in the U.S.).
The states worst rankings in the report were in debt per capita (No. 42 in the nation), the ALEC-Laffer Economic Outlook Ranking, which measures 16 metrics for economic outlook, (No. 39 in the U.S.) and economic debt per personal income (No. 37 in the country).
Rhode Island had more metrics that ranked among the bottom half of states than the top half of the nation in the report. However, Rhode Island was not included in Conning’s list of states “bearing a close watch” in case of an economic downturn. (The report listed, in this order, Kentucky, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and New Jersey.)
The Ocean State was the third-highest ranked state in New England, behind New Hampshire (No. 6) and Massachusetts (No. 18). Maine was ranked No. 4 in the region and No. 36 in the United States, followed by Vermont (No. 41 in the U.S.) and Connecticut (No. 44 in the country).
Colorado ranked No. 1 of among all states in the report while Mississippi ranked last.
The report also noted that, in general, states are experiencing rising general fund revenue and have moderated spending, which was led to improved credit metrics. It also said that the most recent Republican tax cut made difficulty for some states due to the cap in state and local tax deductions, which is expected to impact Rhode Islanders.
