Last week, the Cato Institute released an analysis of the total level of welfare benefits by state called “The Work Versus Welfare Trade-Off” by Michael Tanner and Charles Hughes.  The analysis claims the current welfare system acts as a disincentive “because welfare benefits are tax-free, their dollar value was greater than the amount of take-home income a worker would receive from an entry-level job.”

In particular, this study seeks to determine the approximate level of benefits that a typical welfare family, consisting of a single mother with two children, might receive, and to compare those benefits with the wages that a recipient would need to earn in order to take home an equivalent income

Even after accounting for Earned Income Tax Credit, welfare currently pays more than a minimum wage job in 35 states. Welfare in 42 states exceed the Federal Poverty Level and District of Columbia, Massachusetts, and Hawaii pays more than twice the poverty level.

[….]

Looking at Welfare Benefits Packages as a whole, the states with the largest welfare packages are:

1. Hawaii- $49,175
2. District of Columbia- $43,099
3. Mass- $42,515
4. Connecticut- $38,761
5. New jersey- $38,728
6. Rhode Island- $38,632
7. New York $38,004

The full report can be read here