Most independent States in the Nation: Connecticut Ranks #11 in New Analysis

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Connecticut has the third highest percentage of households with rainy-day and emergency funds, just behind Hawaii and Delaware and just ahead of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, according to a new analysis by the financial website WalletHub.

The result is part of an overall analysis that ranked the states on a multi-faceted scale to determine the Most Independent States.  Overall, Connecticut ranked number 11.

To determine the most independent states, as Independence Day arrives later this week, WalletHub compared the 50 states across five key dimensions: 1) Financial Dependency, 2) Government Dependency, 3) Job-Market Dependency, 4) International-Trade Dependency and 5) Vice Dependency.  They evaluated those dimensions using what are described as 39 relevant metrics. Among the metrics are share of adults for children’s college education, median household income, homeownership rate, share of households receiving public assistance, job growth rate, industry variety, share of state GDP generated by exports to other countries, and share of adults with gambling disorders.

Overall, the top 10 “most independent” states are Utah, Colorado, Virginia, Idaho, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Washington, California, Wisconsin, and Montana, followed by Connecticut.

Among the individual categories, Connecticut ranked:

  • 5th – Median Debt per Income

  • 10th – Share of Adults Saving for Children’s College Education

  • 13th – Share of Federal-, State- & Local-Government Employees

  • 20th – Share of Jobs Supported by Exported Goods

  • 2nd – Share of Current Adult Smokers

Data used by WalletHub  to create this ranking were collected as of April 17, 2025 from sources including U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, FINRA Investor Education Foundation, Council for Community and Economic Research, Tax Foundation, and Gallup.

Sources also included International Trade Administration, U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Council on Problem Gambling, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.