State efficiency is ‘having a moment’ amid upcoming elections, tightening budgets

Efficiency has become a hot-button topic for state governments, particularly as they face tightening budgets, shrinking workforces and increasing resident demands. State leaders across the U.S. are exploring how to use data as a lever to address such challenges and achieve efficiency. 

“What we’re seeing right now is really unusual: Efficiency is having a moment at the state level nationally,” said Melissa Maynard, a project director at The Pew Charitable Trusts, at the Government Efficiency Summit hosted last week by GovExec in Washington, D.C. 

Since 2025, at least 26 states have launched efficiency-based efforts aimed at reducing unnecessary spending, enhancing service delivery and modernizing government operations and processes. 

Maynard also pointed to the fact there are 39 gubernatorial elections occurring this year, 21 of which have open seats. As new governors step into office, they will face administrative and fiscal pressure to maintain that momentum of efficiency, she said. 

How each state approaches that imperative can vary. For several states, efficiency means prioritizing controlling state costs, while for others it means improved delivery of digital services, she explained. 

Broadly, while the focus on efficiency is not new, there is a growing “impulse to look under the hood of state government and fix what isn’t working,” Maynard said. 

Making efficiency happen 

“For us in the state of Maryland and for Governor [Wes] Moore, it's not just about efficiency, but it's about effectiveness,” said Asma Mirza, chief performance officer for the state of Maryland. 

She pointed to the state’s government modernization initiative that launched last January as an example of that approach. Under the effort, state officials set out to save $50 million in office deficiencies, and “we could cut and slash budgets, but then we would cut and slash all the services that our people rely on,” Mirza explained. 

Instead, state officials analyzed hundreds of datasets to identify opportunities to reduce operational costs and waste. Leaders also conducted interviews and working sessions with staff to consider where spending cuts could be made, such as fleet management, IT services and procurement processes, Mirza said. 

More broadly, such efforts have helped the state save $29 million during fiscal 2026. Mirza said that the state was able to achieve those savings without disrupting state employees’ workflows. 

In Massachusetts, state leaders recently launched a similar program in a bid to save costs across administrative agencies, said Bran Shim, at the Massachusetts Executive Office for Administration and Finance. 

Under the Massachusetts Administrative Savings Initiative, state leaders are looking to find $100 million in operational savings from administrative agencies, he said, adding that “we're rapidly on our way to look at procurement, the IT space, facilities [and] all these different things to see how we can put every dollar to work as hard as possible.”

The state, for example, has been consolidating state offices and other facilities to reduce building maintenance and lease costs, which could help optimize workplace efficiency, Shim said. 

Measuring the impact of efficiency 

Whether a particular program or policy yields efficiency gains rests on whether state leaders can effectively monitor their impact, Shim said. 

A good starting point for state leaders looking to establish benchmarks for measuring efficiency is asking questions like, “What are we tracking? Why are we tracking that? What is your theory of change about how this program or investment will lead to the outcome that you're looking at?” he said. 

Baseline metrics, such as the per-dollar cost or number of people served under a new program, are important insights but can be “context-dependent and agency-specific,” Shim said. He pointed to an example where agency leaders may see that a public assistance program is being used by a large group of people, but more granular data may show that the program is not serving the intended population it was created for. 

That’s where a more holistic approach to measuring efficiency can help officials better understand the impact of a new intervention, and, if needed, better revise and fund it moving forward according to the data, Shim explained. 

Maryland officials, for example, created a “performance cabinet” through which the state’s cabinet secretaries convene on a regular basis to share performance data on ongoing public safety, poverty reduction, economic development and other initiatives, Mirza said. 

“Agencies know I’m not going away. I’m coming back every month [and] every quarter … to ask them the same questions about the data” because “that reliability of the process and that consistency of the data is incredibly helpful,” Mirza said. 

Similarly, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox launched the Government Reform, Innovation and Transparency initiative last year to increase statewide government efficiency, Maynard said. The effort required state agencies to identify inefficiencies and develop efficiency improvement projects for their individual office and for the state. 

One of the main data metrics Utah is collecting is customer experience, she said. For example, state websites and other resources often include QR codes that prompt users to complete satisfaction surveys and provide feedback. 

When it comes to state government efficiency, “half the time, it doesn’t even boil down to … new technology or systems,” Shim said. “It’s [about] making sure we’re getting rid of the red tape in the way of our state employees doing this work.”