Mariana Trujillo
Managing Director, Government Finance, Reason Foundation
Mariana Trujillo is managing director of government finance at Reason Foundation, where she leads research on the fiscal health of federal, state, and local governments.
Her work examines government debt, public pension liabilities, state and local budgeting, and the effects of retirement benefits on public-employee recruitment and retention. She leads Reason Foundation’s Government Finance Dashboard, a national database and interactive research platform covering the finances of states, cities, counties, and school districts.
Trujillo’s research has been cited by The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, The Bond Buyer, and other national publications. Her commentary has appeared in Reason Magazine, Governing, the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Hartford Courant, and the Los Angeles Daily News. She has testified before state legislatures and presented her research to policymakers, public-finance professionals, and researchers across the country.
She holds a B.A. in economics from George Mason University and is an alumna of the Stand Together Koch Associate Program and the Mercatus Center’s Schumpeter Fellowship. Before joining Reason Foundation, she interned at JPMorgan, The Mercatus Center, and The Cato Institute.
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State and local governments have $6 trillion in total debt, including over $1 trillion in California
Five states—New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Illinois and Hawaii—have more than $30,000 per capita in state and local debt, and five more states have over $20,000 per capita.
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Study of all 50 state governments finds Connecticut, New Jersey, Hawaii and Illinois have the most per capita debt
Fourteen states have more than $10,000 in per capita debt, and seven have more than $100 billion in total debt.
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How Connecticut’s pre-K endowment raises pension costs
Connecticut remains the second most indebted state in the nation on a per-capita basis, leaving little margin for deviation from its commitment to debt reduction.
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Frequently asked questions about public pensions investing in Bitcoin and other digital assets
Are public pension systems investing in digital assets effectively gambling with taxpayer-backed retirement assets?
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U.S. public pension and trust fund investment in digital assets
Policy considerations for public sector investment in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
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Report: Cities have $1.4 trillion in debt
San Francisco, Nantucket, New York City, Ocean City, and Miami Beach are the cities with the most per capita debt.
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Report: County governments have $757 billion in debt
In per capita terms, North Slope Borough, Alaska, ranks first, with its total debt representing $46,883 per county resident.
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Report: State and local pension plans have $1.48 trillion in debt
State pension systems have $1.29 trillion in unfunded liabilities, and local governments have $187 billion.
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Report ranks every state’s debt, from California’s $497 billion to South Dakota’s $2 billion
Study finds state governments have a total of $2.7 trillion in debt, with 26 states exceeding $20 billion in debt each and 10 states over $70 billion.
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Report: State and local governments have $6.1 trillion in debt
State and local debt is over $100 billion in 16 states and exceeds $50 billion in 27 states. California’s state and local governments have over $1 trillion in debt.
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Debt trends for state and local governments 2020-2022
This tool provides debt and spending insights for the 100 largest municipalities, counties and school districts in America and all 50 states for fiscal years 2020, 2021 and 2022.
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City debt: New York has more than four times the liabilities of Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston and other cities
New York City, the District of Columbia, Chicago, Atlanta, Yonkers and Austin have the most per capita liabilities.
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County debt: Los Angeles, Miami-Dade and Cook counties among worst in nation
Los Angeles County had $54 billion in liabilities at the end of 2022. Miami-Dade County had $29 billion in total liabilities.
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State debt: California, Illinois, New York, New Jersey and Texas each have over $200 billion in total liabilities
On a per capita basis, Connecticut's $27,031 total liabilities per capita are worst in the nation, followed by New Jersey.
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Annual pension solvency and performance report
At the end of the 2023 fiscal year, the nation's public pension systems had $1.59 trillion in total unfunded liabilities.
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The case for Connecticut’s fiscal guardrails
The “fiscal guardrails” have saved Connecticut more than $170 million and could save $7 billion over the next 25 years.