Per Capita GDP by EU and US Region, Fourth Quarter 2018

The chart above shows the per capita annualized nominal gross domestic product (GDP) in each EU and US region as of the fourth quarter of 2018 in US dollars, the change from the previous quarter, and the per capita GDP one year prior.  US regions have seen growth in per capita GDP over the same quarter last year and over the previous quarter.

Findings

• The difference between the region with the largest per capita GDP, the Northeastern US, and the region with the smallest, the Eastern EU, is $61,418.29 (up from $60,713.93 last quarter and up from $58,389.01 last year).  The Northeastern US and the Eastern EU had the largest and smallest per capita GDP respectively both last quarter and last year.
• The Northeastern US has 5.10 times the per capita GDP that the Northern EU does.  The ratio of largest per capita GDP to smallest per capita GDP went up from 5.03 last quarter and up from 4.98 last year.
• Five regions (one EU, four US) saw their per capita GDP rise in current dollars from the previous quarter while three (all from the EU) saw it drop.
• Five regions (one EU, four US) saw their per capita GDP rise in current dollars from last year while three (all from the EU) saw it drop.
• All EU drops in per capita GDP are attributed to currency rate fluctuations.

Caveats

• Data is from the fourth quarter of 2018.
• The data is seasonally adjusted in current dollars.
• Euros are converted to dollars at an average exchange rate of 1.14 for the fourth quarter of 2018, 1.16 for the third quarter of 2018, and 1.18 for the fourth quarter of 2017 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.
• The Western EU consists of Germany, United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Ireland, and Luxembourg.
• The Southern US consists of Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Louisiana, South Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, and West Virginia.
• The Western US consists of California, Washington, Colorado, Arizona, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Hawaii, Idaho, Alaska, Montana, and Wyoming.
• The Northeastern US consists of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Delaware, Maine, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
• The Midwestern US consists of Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
• The Southern EU consists of Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, and Malta.
• The Eastern EU consists of Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
• The Northern EU consists of Sweden, Denmark, and Finland.

Details

In absolute terms, the Western EU saw the largest decrease over the previous quarter with a drop of $436.79.  The Western US had the largest growth with a gain of $792.82.  Year over year, the Northern EU had the largest decrease with a drop of $1,056.37 while the Western US had the greatest increase with a gain of $3,835.81.

In relative terms, the Southern EU had the largest decrease over the previous quarter with a 1.22% drop in per capita GDP while the Southern US had the greatest increase with a 1.13% rise in per capita GDP.  Year over year, the Northern EU had the largest decrease with a 1.83% drop in per capita GDP while the Southern US had the largest growth with a 5.84% rise in per capita GDP.

The Northern EU has the smallest range in per capita GDP with a low of $50,243.11 in Finland to a high of $62,473.05 in Denmark.  The Midwestern US has the greatest range with a low of $53,980.74 in Missouri to a high of $82,750.14 in North Dakota.

No region overcame another region in the quarter.  The Southern US overcame the Northern EU over the course of the year dropping the Northern EU from fourth largest per capita GDP to fifth as its per capita GDP shrank from $57,569.82 to $56,513.45 while the Southern US's per capita GDP rose from $56,582.15 to $59,885.64.

Sources

Eurostat.  2019.  "GDP and Main Components."  Accessed May 22, 2019.  http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-406779_QID_60EF9FCD_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-406779INDICATORS,OBS_FLAG;DS-406779UNIT,CP_MEUR;DS-406779S_ADJ,SCA;DS-406779NA_ITEM,B1GQ;&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.  2019.  "Foreign Exchange Rates."  Accessed May 26, 2019.  https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g5/.

US Bureau of Economic Analysis.  2019.  "GDP by State."  Accessed May 22, 2019.  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.