Every man, woman and child in Louisiana is effectively on the hook for about $139,300 in combined federal, state and local government debt, according to a new Reason Foundation study, as reported by New Orleans CityBusiness. The figure folds together national, state, local and school district obligations into a single per-resident burden, and it lands at a moment when the state's own balance sheet is drawing fresh scrutiny.
According to New Orleans CityBusiness, Louisiana's state government alone has accumulated $39.3 billion in debt, which works out to $8,440 per resident. That places Louisiana 17th-highest among all 50 states for state debt per resident, the outlet reported, citing the Reason Foundation analysis.
The picture grows larger once parish governments, municipalities and school districts are added to the ledger. Louisiana's combined state and local debt rises to $78.8 billion, or $16,939 per resident, giving the state the 18th-highest per capita burden in the country, as reported by New Orleans CityBusiness.
A Co-Author Breaks Down the Numbers
Jordan Campbell, who co-authored the report, said Louisiana's state and local governments had $78.8 billion in total debt, or $16,939 in debt per capita. Campbell also put the broader figure in plain terms, saying each Louisianan owes $139,300 in national, state, local and school district government debt.
The report, released Thursday and written by Nolan McKendry, folds in a national component as well. The nation's debt exceeds $40 trillion, adding an estimated $122,384 per person to Louisiana residents' combined government debt burden, as noted by New Orleans CityBusiness.
Pensions Drive a Big Share of State Debt Nationwide
The Louisiana figures sit inside a much larger national accounting effort. The nation's 50 state governments reported $2.6 trillion in total debt and $1.9 trillion in long-term debt at the end of fiscal year 2024, Reason Foundation reported at Reason Foundation. Unfunded pension liabilities represented 36% of state governments' long-term liabilities that year, the largest single source of state debt, with states reporting $685 billion in net pension liability nationwide, or about $2,100 per resident.
State governments actually carry a minority share of the overall public debt picture. State governments carried only 39% of all state and local government long-term debt, with cities, counties and school districts holding the rest. Total debt in these tallies includes everything reported on governments' balance sheets, including short-term obligations, bonds, loans, unfunded pension liabilities and retiree health care benefits.
How Louisiana Compares Nationally
Louisiana's per-resident burden falls well short of the states topping the national rankings. Connecticut had the highest state-government debt per capita at $25,381, followed by New Jersey at $22,933, according to the study. On the combined state-and-local side, California carried the most total debt in the nation at $1.06 trillion, while New York posted the highest per-capita total state and local debt at $37,006, followed by New Jersey at $35,100 and Connecticut at $33,189.
Nationwide, state and local governments reported approximately $6.1 trillion in total debt in fiscal year 2024, or about $18,300 per resident, per a report from Reason Foundation, roughly comparable to Louisiana's own combined load once the state's $16,939 per-resident figure is set alongside it. The full study is available at reason.org, according to the report.
