(The Center Square) – Wisconsin ranks 23rd in the country and has a taxpayer surplus of $1,100 in the new Financial State of the States report from Truth in Accounting.

The group’s annual financial rankings graded Wisconsin with a “B” as it looks at overall debt and whether a state has funding to cover its obligations, including those of pensions.

Wisconsin has improved its standing from ranking negative from 2009 to 2021 before breaking into the positive as post-pandemic federal funds were funneled into the state’s budget. Federal funding accounted for $18.3 billion or 30% of state revenue in 2025.

“During COVID, the federal government flooded the states and local governments with money and they have not contracted that,” Sheila Weinberg, founder & CEO of Truth in Accounting, told The Center Square. “So Wisconsin has 30% of its revenue coming from the federal government, who knows when that will ever be contracted?

“Something that is really helping the states is the market is doing phenomenal, returns in double digits, which reduces their unfunded pension liability.”

The report shows that Wisconsin has $557 million in unfunded pension benefits and nearly $1.6 billion in unfunded retiree healthcare benefits.

In all, the state has $86.4 billion in assets with $37.5 billion in capital assets and $20.8 billion in restricted assets, leaving it with $28.1 billion available to pay bills and nearly $25.6 billion in bills against it.

The report notes that Wisconsin is unique in that its public pension investments include risk for both the state and those receiving the benefits.

“Wisconsin’s risk-sharing pension design links some benefit adjustments to investment performance, maintaining strong funding levels,” the report states. “By distributing investment risk among retirees, employees, and taxpayers, the system reduces the likelihood of large taxpayer-funded pension shortfalls while preserving long-term fiscal stability.”

Weinberg noted that, every seven to 10 years, the country has seen a financial crisis that states should be planning for, including COVID, the housing market crisis and dot-com crisis.

“I believe, at this point in time, the pension funds should be overfunded to be able to take that hit of the assets dropping,” Weinberg said.