Shades of Meg Whitman and her misleading campaign rhetoric: "California has one-eighth of the nation's population but one-third of its welfare recipients." Them is some scary numbers. Specious, but scary. According to the US Census Bureau, California has about twelve percent of the nation's population AND about twelve percent of the nation's welfare COST. While technically correct, the "one third of welfare recipients" refers to ONE program within California's welfare system which is responsible for less than 4% of the total welfare budget. California's welfare spending is higher than average, but at least eight other states have higher per capita welfare costs than California.