The chart above shows the per capita annualized nominal gross domestic product (GDP) in each EU and US state as of the fourth quarter of 2020 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 $146,669.45 (up from $140,038.72 last quarter and up from $130,597.98 last year). Luxembourg and Bulgaria had the largest and smallest per capita GDP respectively both last quarter and last year.
- Luxembourg has 15.55 times the per capita GDP that Bulgaria does. The ratio of largest per capita GDP to smallest per capita GDP was down from 15.63 last quarter and up from 14.85 last year.
- The median per capita GDP in the 28 EU states is $29,804.73 (up from $29,097.82 last quarter and down from $29,876.97 last year) and the mean $39,844.06 (up from $38,821.80 the previous quarter and up from $37,837.29 last year).
- The median per capita GDP in the 50 US states is $63,512.13 (up from $62,313.21 last quarter and down from $63,771.54 last year) and the mean $64,747.78 (up from $63,666.08 the previous quarter and down from $65,536.12 last year).
- The median per capita GDP in the 78 EU and US states is $58,295.42 (up from $57,568.71 last quarter and up from $56,680.65 last year) and the mean $55,807.99 (up from $54,747.62 the previous quarter and up from $55,592.95 last year).
- Of the 78 states, 77 (27 EU, 50 US) saw a rise in per capita GDP in current dollars from the previous quarter while one (1 EU, 0 US) saw a contraction.
- Of the 78 states, 37 (24 EU, 13 US) saw a rise in per capita GDP in current dollars from last year while 41 (4 EU, 37 US) saw a contraction.
- Some EU gains are attributed to currency rate fluctuations.
Caveats
- GDP data is from the fourth quarter of 2019, the third quarter of 2020, and the fourth quarter of 2020.
- 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 1.11 for the fourth quarter of 2019, 1.17 for the third quarter of 2020, and 1.19 for the fourth quarter of 2020 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, Austria had the worst performance over the previous quarter with a drop of $467.42. Luxembourg had the best performance with a gain of $7,142.18. Year over year, Wyoming had the worst performance with a drop of $6,584.16 while Luxembourg had the best performance with a gain of $16,721.90.
In relative terms, Austria had the worst performance over the previous quarter with a 0.86% drop in per capita GDP while Romania had the best performance with a 9.00% gain in per capita GDP. Year over year, Wyoming had the worst performance with a 9.10% drop in per capita GDP while Luxembourg had the best performance with a 11.94% 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, eight (2 EU, 6 US) the previous quarter, and nine (2 EU, 7 US) this past quarter. Conversely, the number of states with a per capita GDP of less than $50,000 was 26 (22 EU, 4 US) last year, 28 (21 EU, 7 US) the previous quarter, and 25 (19 EU, 6 US) this past quarter.
Alaska (from 16th largest per capita GDP to 13th largest), Denmark (from 24th to 21st), and Germany (from 55th to 52nd) rose three spots over the previous quarter. New Jersey (from 14th to 17th) and Austria (from 43rd to 46th) fell three spots. Year over year, Denmark (from 29th to 21st) and Sweden (from 40th to 32nd) rose eight spots. On the flip side, Wyoming (17th to 27th) fell ten spots.
Four EU states overcame six US states over the previous quarter and nine EU states overcame 28 US states over the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, three US states surpassed one EU state over the previous quarter and one US state surpassed one EU state over the same quarter last year.
Sources
Eurostat. 2021. "GDP and Main Components." Accessed March 31, 2021. https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-406779_QID_-2BC5CE0A_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 March 31, 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 March 31, 2021. https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/timeseries/ybha/ukea.
US Bureau of Economic Analysis. 2021. "GDP by State." Accessed March 30, 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.