Per Capita GDP by EU and US State, First Quarter 2021

The chart above shows the per capita annualized nominal gross domestic product (GDP) in each EU and US state as of the first quarter of 2021 in dollars, the change from the previous quarter, and the GDP one year prior.  Every single US state's per capita GDP grew over the past quarter.

Findings

• The difference between the state with the largest per capita GDP, Luxembourg, and the state with the smallest, Bulgaria, is $152,108.38 (up from $147,373.45 last quarter and up from $127,036.70 last year).  Luxembourg and Bulgaria had the largest and smallest per capita GDP respectively both last quarter and last year.
• Luxembourg has 15.23 times the per capita GDP that Bulgaria does.  The ratio of largest per capita GDP to smallest per capita GDP was down from 15.62 last quarter and up from 14.56 last year.
• The median per capita GDP in the 28 EU states is $30,516.08 (up from $29,751.45 last quarter and up from $28,613.11 last year) and the mean $41,482.39 (up from $39,952.49 the previous quarter and up from $36,920.49 last year).
• The median per capita GDP in the 50 US states is $65,298.12 (up from $63,512.13 last quarter and up from $63,336.46 last year) and the mean $66,640.69 (up from $64,747.78 the previous quarter and up from $64,860.75 last year).
• The median per capita GDP in the 78 EU and US states is $59,571.24 (up from $58,616.63 last quarter and up from $55,667.82 last year) and the mean $57,609.51 (up from $55,846.91 the previous quarter and up from $54,830.92 last year).
• Of the 78 states, 76 (26 EU, 50 US) saw a rise in per capita GDP in current dollars from the previous quarter while 2 (2 EU, 0 US) saw a contraction.
• Of the 78 states, 76 (28 EU, 0 US) saw a rise in per capita GDP in current dollars from last year while 2 (0 EU, 2 US) saw a contraction.
• Some EU gains are attributed to currency rate fluctuations.

Caveats

• GDP data is from the first quarter of 2020, the fourth quarter of 2020, and the first quarter of 2021.
• US census data is from 2010, EU census data is from 2011.
• The data is seasonally adjusted in current dollars.
• Euros are converted to dollars at an average exchange rate of 1.10 for the first quarter of 2020, 1.19 for the fourth quarter of 2020, and 1.21 for the first quarter of 2021 according to historic rates listed at the Federal Reserve (see source link below).
• US data comes in an annualized format which the EU does not, thus EU data is annualized by multiplying the quarterly figure by four.
• US growth rates may differ from those provided by the Bureau of Economic Analysis as the BEA's growth rates are based on chained dollars in conjunction with the chain index or the quality index for real GDP.  The growth rates listed here are based on nominal GDP.
• All figures are rounded to the nearest hundredth.

Details

In absolute terms, Slovakia had the worst performance over the previous quarter with a drop of $288.72.  Ireland had the best performance with a gain of $11,322.31.  Year over year, Hawaii had the worst performance with a drop of $2,075.64 while Luxembourg had the best performance with a gain of $26,395.62.

In relative terms, Slovakia had the worst performance over the previous quarter with a 1.37% drop in per capita GDP while Ireland had the best performance with a 11.73% gain in per capita GDP.  Year over year, Hawaii had the worst performance with a 2.96% drop in per capita GDP while Ireland had the best performance with a 19.74% gain in per capita GDP.

The number of states with a per capita GDP of over $80,000 was nine (2 EU, 7 US) last year, nine (2 EU, 7 US) the previous quarter, and ten (2 EU, 8 US) this past quarter.  Conversely, the number of states with a per capita GDP of less than $50,000 was 27 (22 EU, 5 US) last year, 25 (19 EU, 6 US) the previous quarter, and 23 (19 EU, 4 US) this past quarter.

Wyoming (from 27th largest per capita GDP to 21st largest) rose 6 spots over the previous quarter.  Hawaii (from 23rd to 26th) and Austria (from 45th to 48th) fell 3 spots.  Year over year, Sweden (from 39th to 28th) rose 11 spots.  On the flip side, Hawaii (19th to 26th) fell 7 spots.

Three EU states overcame five US states over the previous quarter and ten EU states overcame 32 US states over the same quarter last year.  Meanwhile, six US states surpassed four EU states over the previous quarter and zero US states surpassed zero EU states over the same quarter last year.

Sources

Eurostat.  2021.  "GDP and Main Components."  Accessed July 21, 2021.  https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-406779_QID_-41E5E7A5_UID_-3F171EB0&layout=TIME,C,X,0;GEO,L,Y,0;UNIT,L,Z,0;S_ADJ,L,Z,1;NA_ITEM,L,Z,2;INDICATORS,C,Z,3;&zSelection=DS-406779UNIT,CP_MEUR;DS-406779INDICATORS,OBS_FLAG;DS-406779NA_ITEM,B1GQ;DS-406779S_ADJ,SCA;&rankName1=UNIT_1_2_-1_2&rankName2=INDICATORS_1_2_-1_2&rankName3=NA-ITEM_1_2_-1_2&rankName4=S-ADJ_1_2_-1_2&rankName5=TIME_1_0_0_0&rankName6=GEO_1_2_0_1&sortC=ASC_-1_FIRST&rStp=&cStp=&rDCh=&cDCh=&rDM=true&cDM=true&footnes=false&empty=false&wai=false&time_mode=NONE&time_most_recent=false&lang=EN&cfo=%23%23%23%2C%23%23%23.%23%23%23.

Eurostat.  2017.  "Population on 1 January by Age Groups and Sex - Functional Urban Areas."  Accessed December 11, 2017.  http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=urb_lpop1&lang=en.

Federal Reserve.  2021.  "Foreign Exchange Rates."  Accessed July 21, 2021.  https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g5/.

Office for National Statistics.  2021.  "Gross Domestic Product at market prices: Current price: Seasonally adjusted £m - Office for National Statistics."  Accessed July 21, 2021.  https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/timeseries/ybha/ukea.

US Bureau of Economic Analysis.  2021.  "GDP by State."  Accessed July 20, 2021.  https://www.bea.gov/data/gdp/gdp-state.

United States Census Bureau.  September 2012.  "United States Summary: 2010: Population and Housing Unit Counts."  Accessed January 23, 2018.  https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/cph-2-1.pdf.