Afghan War Costs Compared to State Budget Shortfalls

June 27, 2011

A recent report by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities found that 41 states and the District of Columbia are projecting budget shortfalls for fiscal year 2012 totaling $102.9 billion. This amount could be wiped out entirely by the amount spent on the war in Afghanistan this year ($122 billion in FY2011). Further, the amount contributed by each individual state to the war's cost would wipe out that state's shortfall in roughly 80 percent of the states projecting deficits. In some cases a state's war contribution exceeds its projected shortfall by billions of dollars.

States not listed in the following table are either not projecting a funding shortfall in FY2012 or for which there is no data.

StateFY2012 Projected Shortfall In $MillionsFY2011 Share of Afghan War Costs In $Millions
Alabama 979 1,035
Arizona 1,500 1,648
California* 14,800 14,219
Colorado 450 2,044
Connecticut 2,900 2,289
District of Columbia 322 957
Florida 3,700 5,793
Georgia 1,300 3,147
Hawaii 540 327
Idaho 92 323
Illinois 5,300 5,776
Iowa 149 914
Kansas 492 979
Kentucky** 780 1,216
Louisiana 1,600 1,798
Maine 422 307
Maryland 1,400 2,480
Massachusetts 1,800 3,715
Michigan 767 2,798
Minnesota 3,800 3,538
Mississippi 634 473
Missouri 704 2,398
Nebraska 166 918
Nevada** 1,200 670
New Hampshire 250 436
New Jersey 10,500 6,187
New Mexico 450 396
New York 10,000 10,415
North Carolina 2,400 2,994
Ohio** 3,000 5,539
Oklahoma 500 1,217
Oregon** 1,700 1,100
Pennsylvania 3,700 5,299
Rhode Island 219 547
South Carolina 630 903
South Dakota 127 224
Texas 9,000 9,839
Utah 390 704
Vermont 176 167
Virginia** 2,000 3,015
Washington 2,500 2,520
Wisconsin 1,600 1,988
TOTAL 102,900 122,000

NOTES

* California's total does not include an $8.2 billion carried over from the previous fiscal year.
** State totals are one-half of projected shortfall for a two-year budget.

SOURCES

"States Continue to Feel Recession's Impact"
Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, June 17, 2011