Michigan is now operating under the 2025 state budget that was enacted by the Democratic legislature and signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last June. The budget is the largest in the state’s history, and it includes nearly $994 million in pork spending as calculated by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

The budget analysis reveals that some counties came out ahead and others came out behind. The most sparsely populated counties received nothing. Only 12 of Michigan’s 83 counties received above-average funding for these pork projects.

What constitutes average funding? The average county would receive around $100 per capita. However, that is not the reality. Thirty-one counties received below-average funding, or even next to nothing per capita.

Per capita spending was calculated by taking the amount of pork allocated to each county and dividing it by the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ 2022 population data for that county.

Another major disparity found upon analysis of the state budget is that 40 Michigan counties were given no funding. This is not related to inputs — taxpayers in those counties also contributed to the general fund revenue that is being used to fund the pork spending spree in the other 43 counties.

It may also come as a surprise that the county with the highest per capita spending is Mackinac County, with $725 per capita, while the lowest recipient county this year is Livingston County, which receives a mere $0.62. The analysis reveals stark geographic disparities in spending (not including the 40 counties that failed to receive any pork spending).

Some counties that received high dollar amounts, such as Oakland County at $46,498,500 and Washtenaw County at $27,773,800, still did not receive an amount that equals the average per capita. Oakland County received $37 per capita, and Washtenaw County received $76 per capita.

The 2025 state budget clearly contains plentiful pork spending that almost none of the taxpayers who provided the money will be able to enjoy. Such uneven allocation demands public scrutiny. The spending numbers strongly suggest that last year’s legislative majority engaged in clear favoritism when deciding how to spend your money.

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