The chart above shows the per capita GDP of US states. Every single state in the US has a per capita GDP of over $30,000 whereas in the EU over half do not as is shown in the previous report.
Findings
- Nearly half the states have a per capita GDP of over $50,000.
- They are also the only three states that are not bested in per capita GDP by a state from another region (Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut).
- Idaho is the only state outside of the South with one of the five lowest per capita GDPs.
- The Midwest is the only region that does not have a state with one of the ten lowest per capita GDPs.
- The South is the only region that does not crack the top ten economies in per capita GDP.
Caveats
- The data is from 2016.
Details
Even though Southern states tend to have lower per capita GDPs, the disparity in the US is nowhere near the disparity in the EU. The state with the highest per capita GDP has one that is just over twice the size of the state with the smallest, while in the EU the state with the largest per capita GDP has one that is 13 times larger than the per capita GDP of the smallest state.
It is interesting to note that the leading state of three of the four regions has a dominant oil industry (Alaska in the West, North Dakota in the Midwest, and Texas in the South). The only region whose leading state as far as per capita GDP goes does not have a large oil industry in the Northeast with Massachusetts.
Sources
US Bureau of Economic Analysis. 2017. "Regional Data." Accessed October 26, 2017. https://bea.gov/itable/iTable.cfm?ReqID=70&step=1#reqid=70&step=1&isuri=1.