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The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is about to become significantly more expensive for states as they take on new responsibilities imposed by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. For the first time in program history, states will shoulder a portion of costs based on their payment error rates. Massachusetts registered a 12.5% error rate in the 2025 fiscal year, meaning the Commonwealth could be on the hook for upwards of $350 million.

Nationally, Massachusetts has among the highest housing prices, with a median sale price of $667,628 for all homes compared to the national average of $398,771. Between October 2016-2025, Massachusetts single-family home prices went up 80.5%, mirroring the climb of housing prices across New England following the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2026, Massachusetts has the nation’s third highest average rent at $2,259 a month. House prices nationally surged in 2021. This was mainly attributed to increased housing demand resulting from remote work, federal stimulus payments, and low interest rates coupled with increased supply chain disruptions that raised the cost of building and limited construction of new homes.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly expanding and has already entered K-12 schools nationwide. November 2025 data from the Rand Institute show that the majority of teachers and students alike use AI to complete educational tasks. Yet, 80 percent of students do not believe they are adequately trained to use these emerging technologies (Figure 1).

On June 25, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian and Syrian immigrants, heightening concerns in immigrant communities and sparking the possibility of protections for other immigrant populations being ended as well. Not only is this directly affecting the everyday lives of about 356,000 people nationwide, but also the businesses who employ them. For example, in Massachusetts, about 2,000 direct care workers --- which are professionals who provide hands-on assistance in everyday activities for individuals like the disabled --- in Massachusetts are at risk of losing work authorization. There is even already a shortage of direct care workers in Massachusetts.

On June 26, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey announced a three-year bachelor’s degree pilot program at Suffolk University and Merrimack College, aiming to cut tuition without sacrificing academic quality. As discussed in my previous blog, tuition costs have soared, and it may be due to the way universities fundamentally operate. In 2023, Massachusetts' average annual tuition neared $54,000 (Figure 1), with elite institutions costing even more.  

Public reporting of state finances that is transparent, reliable, and timely is what the International Monetary Fund defines as fiscal transparency. Not only can the transparency of this information help governments respond appropriately to the ever-changing economy, but it can also help the public hold them accountable.  

Massachusetts has distinguished itself as a national leader in education, health care, and biotechnology. While many other states rely on manufacturing, energy, or tourism as their economic drivers, Massachusetts has built an economy centered around research and innovation at some of the nation’s best academic and medical institutions.

For many years, states without income taxes like Florida, New Hampshire, and Texas have been a big draw for high-wage earners looking to retain more of their salaries and retirement savings. For example, a person with an annual salary of $400,000 who moves from California to Nevada saves roughly $30,000 in income taxes. There is a strong case to be made for moving for tax purposes if a person’s income is higher than $200,000, they reside in a high-tax state, or the person is approaching retirement age with a large investment portfolio. While there are benefits to the taxpayer, these large taxpayer migrations have significant effects on the states themselves.

Adjusted for inflation, average college tuition has more than doubled since 1970 (Figure 1). This tuition rise impacts more than just college payers, as an annual $124 billion of federal tax dollars subsidizes financial aid. As tuition climbs, so does the federal contribution. Despite the rise in tuition, most of this increased funding does not go toward academic instruction. So, where is it going? Tuition circulates throughout a university, contributing to everything from student services to administrators hired to oversee compliance. Increased costs in these non-academic areas have forced universities to hire an exorbitant number of administrative staff. In fact, most universities have more administrative staff than professors (Figure 2).

Across the United States, annual homeowner insurance premiums have increased by an average of $648 from 2021 to 2024, according to the Consumer Federation of America. While there are widespread cost increases nationally, several communities have been hit harder than others due to the rise in severe weather events in the past few years. The states that saw the greatest percentage increase in premiums were Utah (59%), Illinois (50%), Arizona (48%), and Pennsylvania (44%). This contrasts with those states that saw the greatest hike in absolute dollars, which were Florida ($2,118), Louisiana ($1,775), and Kentucky ($1,426). These two pieces of data tell us two things about the effect of climate risk on insurance premiums: new areas are being exposed to disasters and known high-risk areas are facing exacerbated impacts.