Stimulus Checks: Which States Have the Most Unclaimed Payments

More than 9 million Americans qualified for a stimulus check back in April but have yet to claim their emergency aid. The IRS urges these eligible Americans to use their online “non-filer tool” to get access to their emergency Economic Impact Payment as soon as possible. Many of these Americans may not even realize that they qualify, as they are not required to file tax returns.

According to an investigation by the Government Office of Accountability, as many as 8,863,344 eligible Americans have still not obtained their stimulus check. The IRS is now scrambling to get these funds to their rightful owners as the coronavirus pandemic stretches on. In many cases, these are Americans who were not required to file taxes in 2018 or 2019 — either because they live on a fixed income or because their income is below a certain threshold. These unclaimed stimulus checks are spread out widely across the U.S.

Unsurprisingly, most of the unclaimed stimulus checks are in the country’s biggest and most populous states, according to a report by Forbes. The IRS released the tally of unclaimed checks in each state in the hopes of catching the attention of the people there who still have not gotten paid.

With the negotiations for a second stimulus check dragging on, acquiring the first one is more important than ever. Here is a breakdown of which states have the most unclaimed stimulus checks.

Top 4:

California – 1,186,896

Texas – 796,525

Florida – 567,425

New York – 537,726

300,000+:

Georgia – 348,631

Illinois – 309,972

200,000+:

Ohio – 283,194

Pennsylvania – 276,066

Michigan – 270,590

North Carolina – 245,623

Arizona – 239,037

New Jersey – 216,145

Virginia – 205,600

Washington – 203,978

150,000+:

Maryland – 192,153

Massachusetts – 187,768

Colorado – 177,502

Tennessee – 171,065

Louisiana – 159,575

Missouri – 159,077

Indiana – 150,154

100,000+:

Alabama – 148,242

South Carolina – 142,382

Oregon – 131,647

Oklahoma – 123,473

Kentucky – 117,136

Minnesota – 115,914

Wisconsin – 111,426

Remainder:

Nevada – 94,472

Arkansas – 91,386

Connecticut – 89,458

Mississippi – 86,669

New Mexico – 72,333

Iowa – 71,382

Kansas – 69,595

Utah – 69,140

Hawaii – 48,767

Idaho – 40,943

Nebrask – 38,201

District of Columbia – 33,964

Delaware – 32,875

Maine – 32,346

Montana – 30,977

Alaska – 30,807

New Hampshire – 29,680

West Virginia – 27,788

Rhode Island – 24,686

North Dakota – 19,596

South Dakota – 19,391

Wyoming – 14,506

Vermont – 13,665

Military:

Armed Forces U.S. – 522

Armed Forces Outside of U.S. – 3,096

Armed Forces Pacific – 2,177