Most Arkansas counties heavily reliant on government aid
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At least a quarter of Arkansans' personal income comes from the government in all but seven of Arkansas' 75 counties, according to an Economic Innovation Group analysis.
The big picture: Residents in more than half of America's counties now draw at least a quarter their total income from the government. In 2000, that was the case in just 10% of counties.
Zoom in: The counties that don't fall into that stat are mostly ones with some of the state's most populous cities — Benton, Washington, Pulaski, Craighead, Saline, Lonoke and Faulkner.
- NWA has the lowest rate with 17% of personal income in Washington County and 8.2% of personal income in Benton County coming from government programs.
Between the lines: The vast majority of counties where government support is critical are rural and overwhelmingly vote Republican, The Wall Street Journal notes.
- Many of those counties are in key battleground states this year: Government aid makes up a significant share of income for about 70% of counties in Michigan, Georgia and North Carolina. That number is 60% in Pennsylvania.
State of play: Three trends explain the increase in America's dependence on these programs, which include Social Security, SNAP, Medicare and Medicaid.
- An aging population: The country is evolving into an older society, and the largest social safety net programs are designed to keep seniors out of poverty. Their share of the population will only increase as the last Baby Boomers reach retirement age.
- Economic opportunity: High-paying jobs tend to be concentrated in a small number of wealthy hubs. Older, rural areas aren't faring as well: Appalachia, the tribal Southwest, the rural South and the northern Great Lakes.
- Health care: Rapidly rising healthcare costs make Medicare and Medicaid a larger share of their recipient's total income. Medical costs "have risen nearly twice as quickly as overall inflation over the past several decades," the report says.