The chart above shows the per capita annualized nominal gross domestic product (GDP) in each EU and US state as of the second 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 $157,047.74 (up from $154,665.07 last quarter and up from $121,430.66 last year). Luxembourg and Bulgaria had the largest and smallest per capita GDP respectively both last quarter and last year.
- Luxembourg has 15.80 times the per capita GDP that Bulgaria does. The ratio of largest per capita GDP to smallest per capita GDP was up from 15.54 last quarter and up from 15.18 last year.
- The median per capita GDP in the 28 EU states is $31,554.76 (up from $30,974.50 last quarter and up from $24,465.12 last year) and the mean $42,896.46 (up from $41,743.10 the previous quarter and up from $33,568.64 last year).
- The median per capita GDP in the 50 US states is $67,731.42 (up from $65,437.60 last quarter and up from $57,019.71 last year) and the mean $68,732.37 (up from $66,530.43 the previous quarter and up from $58,421.35 last year).
- The median per capita GDP in the 78 EU and US states is $61,262.27 (up from $59,201.16 last quarter and up from $51,529.65 last year) and the mean $59,457.94 (up from $57,632.41 the previous quarter and up from $49,499.86 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, 78 (28 EU, 50 US) saw a rise in per capita GDP in current dollars from last year while 0 (0 EU, 0 US) saw a contraction.
- No EU gains are attributed to currency rate fluctuations.
Caveats
- GDP data is from the second quarter of 2020, the first quarter of 2021, and the second 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 second quarter of 2020, 1.21 for the first quarter of 2021, and 1.21 for the second 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, Malta had the worst performance over the previous quarter with a drop of $747.59. North Dakota had the best performance with a gain of $4,873.24. Year over year, Bulgaria had the worst performance with a gain of $2,045.63 while Luxembourg had the best performance with a gain of $37,662.71.
In relative terms, Malta had the worst performance over the previous quarter with a 1.85% drop in per capita GDP while the United Kingdom had the best performance with a 8.00% gain in per capita GDP. Year over year, Delaware had the worst performance with a 10.69% drop in per capita GDP while the United Kingdom had the best performance with a 37.38% gain in per capita GDP.
The number of states with a per capita GDP of over $80,000 was 5 (2 EU, 3 US) last year, 10 (2 EU, 8 US) the previous quarter, and 11 (2 EU, 9 US) this past quarter. Conversely, the number of states with a per capita GDP of less than $50,000 was 38 (24 EU, 14 US) last year, 23 (19 EU, 4 US) the previous quarter, and 21 (18 EU, 3 US) this past quarter.
North Dakota (from 6th largest per capita GDP to 4th largest) and the United Kingdom (from 58th largest per capita GDP to 56th largest) rose 2 spots over the previous quarter. Sweden (from 28th to 30th) fell 2 spots. Year over year, Sweden (from 39th to 30th) rose 9 spots. On the flip side, Oregon (23rd to 27th) and Rhode Island (36th to 40th) fell 4 spots.
Two EU states overcame three US states over the previous quarter and seven EU states overcame 21 US states over the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, five US states surpassed four EU states 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 October 26, 2021. https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-406779_QID_319D4A03_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 October 27, 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 October 26, 2021. https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/timeseries/ybha/ukea.
US Bureau of Economic Analysis. 2021. "GDP by State." Accessed October 25, 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.