Industry News

On December 18, 2024, the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO) released its semi-annual report, Fall 2024 Fiscal Survey of States. The report updates information on the states’ fiscal conditions, including aggregate and individual state data on general fund receipts, expenditures and balances. The survey was conducted by NASBO and completed by state budget officers in all 50 states.  

The report highlights states’ enacted budgets for fiscal 2025. The survey shows state general fund spending in fiscal 2025 is projected to total over $1.26 trillion, a decrease of 0.3% over fiscal 2024 levels. This projected decrease follows an increase of 11.8% in fiscal 2024, which was largely due to one-time expenditures of surplus funds.

In fiscal 2024, general fund revenues totaled over $1.19 trillion, an increase of 1.5% over fiscal 2023 levels. In 2025 enacted budget forecasts, general fund revenue is projected to increase 1.9%. The projected general fund revenues for fiscal 2025 are about 38% higher than their actual level before the pandemic in fiscal 2019 despite the slowing revenue growth in recent years.

In fiscal 2024, 35 states reported year-over-year increases in their rainy day funds (also referred to as budget stabilization funds). As a percentage of general fund spending, the median rainy day fund balance increased from 12.7% in fiscal 2023 to 13.5% in fiscal 2024. Based on states’ enacted budgets, the median balance is projected to increase to 14.4% in fiscal 2025.

The full report and summary are available here.