Alabama's state and local governments are among the country's largest per capita

Alabama Capitol (Photo: Flickr, sunsurfr)

Alabama is the second most conservative state in America, according to the most recent Gallup survey, so it may come as a surprise that Alabama’s state and local governments are among the country’s largest.

The Birmingham Business Journal on Monday analyzed U.S. Census Bureau statistics and found that Alabama has the 11th highest ratio of state and local government employees per 1,000 residents.

At 40.1 employees per 1,000 residents, Alabama has the second largest per capita state and local government bureaucracy in the southeast, behind Mississippi (45.9), which is ironically ranked the most conservative state in America, according to Gallup.

With Alabama’s population estimated at 4.849 million, that means roughly 194,445 Alabamians are employed by either the state or a local government.

If Alabama trimmed the ratio to 36.8 government employees per 1,000 residents, which would rank the state exactly in the middle of the pack, tied for 25th, that would mean 16,002 government employees would leave the taxpayers’ payroll and return to the private sector.

Assuming each of those government employees makes Alabama’s average salary ($39,180), taxpayers would save almost $627 million annually, and experience a boost in productivity in the private sector.

The biggest takeaway of all, though, may be that “big government” isn’t confined to Washington, D.C.

The ratio of government employees to citizens for all 50 states is as follows:

1. Wyoming, 64.2 per 1,000
2. Kansas, 50.2 per 1,000
3. New York, 46.9 per 1,000
4. Nebraska, 45.9 per 1,000
5. Mississippi, 45.2 per 1,000
6. Iowa, 42.5 per 1,000
7. Texas, 41.7 per 1,000
8. North Carolina, 40.7 per 1,000
9. Vermont, 40.6 per 1,000
10. Louisiana, 40.2 per 1,000
11. Alabama, 40.1 per 1,000
12. New Hampshire, 39.7 per 1,000
13. Illinois, 39.2 per 1,000
14. Virginia, 38.5 per 1,000
15. Oklahoma, 38.3 per 1,000
16. New Mexico, 38.2 per 1,000
17. Ohio, 38.1 per 1,000
18. Missouri, 37.7 per 1,000
19. Colorado, 37.5 per 1,000
20. Maine, 37.4 per 1,000
21. Georgia, 37.3 per 1,000
21. Tennessee, 37.3 per 1,000
23. Alaska, 37.2 per 1,000
24. New Jersey, 37.1 per 1,000
25. Minnesota, 36.8 per 1,000
25. South Carolina, 36.8 per 1,000
27. North Dakota, 36.6 per 1,000
28. Kentucky, 36.2 per 1,000
29. South Dakota, 36.1 per 1,000
30. Maryland, 36.0 per 1,000
31. Wisconsin, 35.9 per 1,000
32. Arkansas, 35.5 per 1,000
32. Connecticut, 35.5 per 1,000
32. Montana, 35.5 per 1,000
35. Indiana, 35.1 per 1,000
36. Idaho, 34.8 per 1,000
37. California, 34.7 per 1,000
38. Florida, 34.5 per 1,000
39. West Virginia, 34.3 per 1,000
40. Massachusetts, 34.2 per 1,000
41. Pennsylvania, 31.9 per 1,000
42. Washington, 31.4 per 1,000
43. Oregon, 31.1 per 1,000
44. Arizona, 31.0 per 1,000
45. Michigan, 29.8 per 1,000
46. Utah, 29.4 per 1,000
47. Nevada, 29.1 per 1,000
48. Rhode Island, 27.7 per 1,000
49. Delaware, 24.5 per 1,000
50. Hawaii, 11.6 per 1,000