(KDVR) – California’s economy is missing out on a hefty chunk of spending or saving from federal stimulus money.
Residents in the Golden State refused, paid back or failed to cash 130,243 of the first-round $1,200 stimulus checks issued under President Trump’s administration at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Internal Revenue Service records obtained by the KDVR Data Desk.
That means $172,764,899 went unclaimed in California — more than any other state in the nation.
Nationally, Americans failed to claim 1,315,717 checks of the first-round stimulus, amounting to $1.77 billion from that first round. For comparison, construction of the new Las Vegas Raiders NFL stadium cost $1.8 billion.
States with the largest populations naturally had larger amounts of unclaimed checks and unclaimed money: Florida followed California with 96,342 unclaimed checks and Texas with 93,918. New York and Pennsylvania came next.
However, when you look at the rate of unclaimed checks compared to population, things shake out a little differently. California and Texas both had low refusal rates, while Pennsylvania had the highest.
Low-population states had the smallest total numbers of uncashed checks. Wyoming had 2,668 uncashed, followed by the District of Columbia, Alaska, Vermont and North Dakota.
Pennsylvania’s refusal rate — 1.17% of stimulus checks uncashed — was nearly double Mississippi’s rate of 0.67%, which was the lowest in the nation.
Despite Pennsylvania being a Democratic-voting state and Mississippi a Republican-voting state, rates of check refusal were fairly evenly spread among the political spectrum. The average percentage of refused checks in states that voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election was on par with those that voted for Joe Biden, with Trump states refusing 0.83% of first-round stimulus checks on average, while Biden states refused 0.85%.
The ten states with both the highest and lowest percentages of refused checks were similarly matched in terms of political leanings, too.
Number of unclaimed stimulus checks by state
| State | Number of unclaimed first round stimulus checks | Total dollar amount | Unclaimed percentage of checks | Unclaimed percentage of stimulus dollars |
| Alabama | 17,857 | $24,007,697 | 0.71% | 0.57% |
| Alaska | 6,028 | $4,010,422 | 0.85% | 0.66% |
| Arizona | 32,201 | $43,636,208 | 0.92% | 0.74% |
| Arkansas | 11,239 | $15,350,947 | 0.73% | 0.58% |
| California | 130,243 | $172,764,899 | 0.72% | 0.58% |
| Colorado | 23,555 | $30,747,252 | 0.86% | 0.67% |
| Connecticut | 3,921 | $17,933,332 | 0.82% | 0.66% |
| Delaware | 3,921 | $5,180,014 | 0.79% | 0.63% |
| District of Columbia | 2,793 | $3,520,885 | 0.85% | 0.78% |
| Florida | 96,342 | $130,193,139 | 0.85% | 0.7% |
| Georgia | 37,135 | $49,856,649 | 0.72% | 0.58% |
| Hawaii | 6,802 | $9,042,446 | 0.93% | 0.73% |
| Idaho | 7,138 | $9,644,194 | 0.83% | 0.61% |
| Illinois | 49,953 | $65,430,205 | 0.83% | 0.65% |
| Indiana | 32,478 | $44,625,521 | 0.98% | 0.77% |
| Iowa | 14,567 | $19,877,027 | 0.95% | 0.72% |
| Kansas | 12,921 | $17,084,652 | 0.94% | 0.7% |
| Kentucky | 18,048 | $25,321,946 | 0.77% | 0.63% |
| Louisiana | 16,693 | $22,395,159 | 0.71% | 0.57% |
| Maine | 5,629 | $7,413,500 | 0.74% | 0.58% |
| Maryland | 22,992 | $30,748,685 | 0.8% | 0.67% |
| Massachusetts | 28,680 | $37,076,315 | 0.87% | 0.71% |
| Michigan | 49,085 | $64,755,244 | 0.97% | 0.75% |
| Minnesota | 23,666 | $30,813,811 | 0.87% | 0.65% |
| Mississippi | 10,395 | $14,042,905 | 0.67% | 0.55% |
| Missouri | 28,168 | $38,351,235 | 0.91% | 0.72% |
| Montana | 5,339 | $7,130,382 | 0.95% | 0.73% |
| Nebraska | 7,808 | $10,209,999 | 0.85% | 0.62% |
| Nevada | 13,107 | $17,496,066 | 0.82% | 0.67% |
| New Hampshire | 6,078 | $7,858,413 | 0.86% | 0.66% |
| New Jersey | 33,599 | $43,694,522 | 0.81% | 0.64% |
| New Mexico | 9,249 | $12,332,402 | 0.86% | 0.69% |
| New York | 78,256 | $103,055,209 | 0.79% | 0.66% |
| North Carolina | 38,763 | $51,446,186 | 0.75% | 0.59% |
| North Dakota | 3,507 | $4,640,904 | 0.95% | 0.71% |
| Ohio | 49,370 | $67,776,584 | 0.8% | 0.66% |
| Oklahoma | 16,366 | $22,055,552 | 0.84% | 0.65% |
| Oregon | 18,346 | $24,055,226 | 0.8% | 0.66% |
| Pennsylvania | 76,523 | $117,391,909 | 1.17% | 1.07% |
| Rhode Island | 4,384 | $5,659,296 | 0.77% | 0.62% |
| South Carolina | 18,818 | $25,209,769 | 0.72% | 0.57% |
| South Dakota | 4,032 | $5,405,651 | 0.91% | 0.68% |
| Tennessee | 26,129 | $35,278,962 | 0.74% | 0.59% |
| Texas | 93,918 | $128,813,130 | 0.71% | 0.56% |
| Utah | 10,476 | $14,248,983 | 0.77% | 0.55% |
| Vermont | 3,298 | $4,285,142 | 0.96% | 0.74% |
| Virginia | 29,995 | $39,469,830 | 0.75% | 0.59% |
| Washington | 31,400 | $41,352,631 | 0.86% | 0.67% |
| West Virginia | 7,786 | $10,383,796 | 0.8% | 0.62% |
| Wisconsin | 27,033 | $36,270,705 | 0.92% | 0.71% |
| Wyoming | 2,668 | $3,568,926 | 0.95% | 0.71% |
| United States | 1,315,717 | $1,772,914,464 | 0.81% | 0.65% |
So what happens to this money? The Data Desk learned that unclaimed stimulus funds are returned to the federal government.
The funding from the CARES Act voids if physical checks remain uncashed after 12 months. The IRS said it had completed first-round checks in May 2020, meaning most of this money will sink back into IRS coffers.
