How Much Unclaimed Money Is There?

Many people have heard stories about the billions of dollars in unclaimed property sitting in bank vaults and government databases, but how much unclaimed money is there? The fact that people can lose track of so much money is hard to believe, given the higher cost of living people are facing now, but it’s a fact. 

Are unclaimed property issues as big a problem as state governments and the media claim? Here are the numbers, so you can decide.

A billion-dollar problem

Maybe you’ve looked up the database for unclaimed funds for your own state, hoping to become rich or at least score a little spending money. But let’s consider how much money has really gone unclaimed.  

At present, there is about $77 billion of unclaimed property in all fifty states combined. In a year, only $3 billion is returned to owners. If all states were equal in their tax collections, each would hold onto about a billion dollars of residents’ money. 

Of course, not all states keep the same cash in their coffers. Some states are sitting on more money than others. It makes sense that states with higher populations have more unclaimed property than states with fewer residents since greater numbers imply more people who have moved and left behind property.

Top states with unclaimed money

When analyzing each state’s unclaimed cash, it is clear that some states have a lot of missing money. New York has the most unclaimed property of any state in the United States. Bagging the top spot might seem like a logical conclusion for a state of New York’s size. The state of Massachusetts ranks second in the country for unclaimed property. Many financial institutions are located in the state, which could partially account for the high number of accounts in its database.