According to a personal finance website, Arizona is one of the top ten most federally dependent states.

“We looked at this two ways: state residents’ dependency on the federal government and the state governments’ dependency,” said an analyst from WalletHub, Jill Gonzalez.

“So essentially we looked at the return on taxes paid to the federal government, the share of federal jobs and federal funding as a share of state revenue.”

Overall, Arizona was number 6 on the list. However, it was number 11 for residents’ dependency on the government and number 4 for the state government’s dependency.

“Arizona ranked sixth in terms of one of the most federally dependent states because right now its residents are receiving more money than they are paying to the government, which if you’re a resident is more bang for your buck — it’s not necessarily a bad thing,” said Gonzalez.

Arizona residents get $1.72 back for every dollar they pay in taxes to the federal government. In most states that amount is less than $1.00. The state government is often awarded large sums of money from contracts, grants, and assistance programs like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and social security.

“Right now as a percentage of the state revenue, about 41 percent of that comes from the federal government, so that can be seen as a plus or a minus here,” said Gonzalez.

“But essentially if anything were to happen with federal government, another recession, etc., Arizona would probably be in hot water.”

The three states most dependent on the federal government were New Mexico, Mississippi, and Kentucky. Kansas, Delaware and New Jersey were the least dependent.