Freedom is never free...lol

Nor is living life.

There is no evidence to support that. Larger areas with lower populations would call for a higher cost per person to maintain an equal balance. Many blue states are also in New England where colonization first began so there is more history of industry and businesses. Just because some of the more expensive ones are red states doesn't mean the fact that they are the red states means that is the reason for this. If that is the case then why is DC by far the most expensive? Why is Texas one of the least expensive?

I would also like to point out that federal aid for disaster relief would also go into this category. That being said some a lot of damage comes every year from hurricanes so I would think it would be a given that typically gulf coast states would have money given for this. The less populated the state the less likely they can pay for this themselves. States like Texas and Florida would have an easier time than say Louisiana, Mississippi, or Alabama. Just food for thought. Not to mention this was for the fiscal year of 2005 if anyone read the article. That was when Katrina and Rita slammed the Gulf Coast. So yea those areas would be skewed by the disasters that happened that year.