In their 2025 State of the State addresses, governors throughout the nation raised concerns about budgetary constraints, revenue shortfalls, and the difficult decisions they face in balancing their states’ budgets. Many states are grappling with declining revenues because of the expiration of federal pandemic aid; slowing economic growth; and rising costs in areas such as health care, education, and public safety.
Pew Research Center
Since 2020, the U.S. has experienced an average of 23 disasters a year that caused at least $1 billion of destruction each, and policymakers at every level of government are grappling with those rising costs. Research from The Pew Charitable Trusts shows that states lack data on public disaster spending, their budgeting approaches are not well adapted to current needs, and their efforts to reduce risks to life and property are inadequately funded.
Public retirement systems aim to balance providing plans that support government workforce objectives and ensuring that the cost of benefits is stable and sustainable over the long term, all while putting workers on a pathway to retirement security.
An estimated nationwide shortage of 4 to 7 million homes has pushed rents to all-time highs, with a record share of Americans spending more than 30% of their income on rent.
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Good health is important to everyone. Pew conducts research and provides information and fact-based recommendations to state agencies, hospitals, researchers, and other health partners to help them provide better care. We find and share evidence-based practices to improve Americans’ health and well-being, including services that can prevent suicide, improve mental health care, and treat substance use disorder.
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Communities throughout the country share common needs: affordable connections to broadband Internet, modern and reliable energy infrastructure, effective responses to mental health challenges, and ways to resolve legal disputes more quickly and fairly. To address these issues, Pew collaborates with states and local governments to find and promote evidence-based solutions that help provide stability and opportunity.
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Economic opportunity is the foundation of American society. Pew supports national, state, and local efforts to expand opportunity and promote financial well-being. Our work helps people pay off student loans, navigate court proceedings such as debt collection, buy or rent a home, access affordable internet, and save for their retirement.
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Nonpartisan, fact-based improvements in federal policy can create jobs, lower costs, and help the nation prepare for the future. When our research shows that small changes can have a big impact, we work across party lines to improve national challenges like housing affordability, internet access, energy reliability, and health care.
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The global ocean teems with life, and it contributes to the vital cycles that keep people and our planet healthy. But the seas are vulnerable to overfishing, loss of habitat such as seagrasses and mangroves, ineffective fisheries management, plastic pollution, and declining biodiversity. These mounting losses affect the coastal communities that depend on the ocean for food and jobs.
States and cities are the “laboratories of democracy” in America—the places where lawmakers and governors look for new ways to help their communities succeed. Whether in Pew’s hometown of Philadelphia or any of the 50 state capitals, we help elected leaders respond to the needs of their citizens, use public dollars wisely, fix outdated policies, and build a better future for all.
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Conserving natural spaces conveys benefits far beyond the gains to wildlife and their habitats. As scores of studies show, protecting and restoring lands and waters, particularly when done in close partnership with local communities, also improves people’s lives—and local economies—by increasing tourism and outdoor recreation.
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Peatlands are wetland ecosystems that store more carbon than any other natural habitat. By removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and trapping carbon from dead organic matter in waterlogged conditions, they serve as a critical tool for moderating global temperatures.
Are states investing enough in roads and bridges to prevent them from falling apart and to avoid leaving future generations on the hook for a costly repair bill? Historically, a lack of consistent information on the condition and needs of this infrastructure in states has limited policymakers’ ability to answer this question, prevented governments from making fully informed investment decisions to address maintenance backlogs, and hindered public accountability and transparency about whether decisions are fiscally sustainable.