Is Florida spending taxpayer dollars efficiently? Here’s what the data tells us

The state budget has become a major talking point in Florida, with Gov. Ron DeSantis and some lawmakers butting heads about how exactly to spend taxpayer funds.

But the bigger question is: Are they spending these funds effectively?

That’s part of what WalletHub set out to determine with its latest report on the states with the best taxpayer return on investment (ROI).

The report examines factors like education and economy to figure out which states garnered the highest taxpayer ROI — and which states might want to take a step back to reevaluate their finances.

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“There can be a tradeoff between how much tax you pay and what you receive in return from the government,” said WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo. “Several of the states with the best taxpayer ROI don’t charge any income tax, and residents pay less at tax time while receiving good-quality (though not necessarily the best) government services.”

More specifically, the study looked at the following five factors:

• Education: Includes public university system quality; public school system quality; public high school graduation rates; projected graduation rate increases; share of idle youth; school programs; presence of free community college education; and state Pre-K funding
• Health: Includes number of hospital beds; public hospital quality; average life expectancy; infant mortality; health insurance premiums; and health care quality
• Safety: Includes violent crime rates; property crime rates; and traffic fatalities
• Economy: Includes median household incomes; job growth rate; share of residents living in poverty; unemployment rates; and underemployment rates
• Infrastructure & Pollution: Includes road/bridge quality; average commute time; parks and recreation expenses; state highway spending per driver; water quality; share of population who receive fluoridated water; and air pollution

Out of all the states, New Hampshire ranked as the top for taxpayer ROI, largely due to its lack of an income tax.

“The Granite State’s tax resources have had a good impact on crime prevention and the environment, as the state has the lowest crime rate and the second-lowest air pollution in the country,” the study reads. “It has one of the best public school systems, as well.”

But the Sunshine State didn’t fall far behind, coming in right at No. 2.

“Florida is the state with the second-best taxpayer ROI, largely because it does not charge its residents an income tax. One way its tax dollars are hard at work is on education, as Florida has the third-best public universities in the U.S., as well as high-quality primary and secondary education as well, with a high-school graduation rate above 87%.

Florida’s infrastructure is pretty decent as well, with the third-best bridge quality and 15th-best road quality in the country. When it comes to most other services, Florida is toward the middle of the pack, but the lack of income taxes makes up for it. Florida has one of the lowest unemployment rates, too."

WalletHub, "States with the Best & Worst Taxpayer ROI (2025)"

In fact, WalletHub notes that red states eked out a slightly better ROI score of 21.77 than blue states, which averaged 31.58 (a lower score indicates a higher ROI).

Meanwhile, the full state-by-state ranking is as follows: