The chart above shows the annualized nominal gross domestic product (GDP) quarterly growth rate in each US state as of the fourth quarter of 2018 and the growth rate from one year prior. Every single state's economy grew both over the past quarter and the past year.
Findings
- The difference between the state with the largest annualized quarterly growth rate, Texas, and the state with the smallest, West Virginia, is 5.4 percentage points.
- The difference between the state with the largest year-over-year growth rate, Washington, and the state with the smallest, Rhode Island, is 5.5 percentage points.
- The median annualized quarterly growth rate in the 50 US states is 3.94% and the mean 3.74%.
- The median year-over-year growth rate in the 50 US states is 5.06% and the mean 5.02%.
- Eight states' economies grew faster over the previous quarter than they did over the same quarter last year. The remaining 42 states saw their economies grow slower over the previous quarter than they did over the same quarter last year.
Caveats
- Data is from the fourth quarter of 2018.
- The data is seasonally adjusted in current dollars.
- 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.
- All figures are rounded to the nearest hundredth.
Details
West Virginia had the smallest increase over the previous quarter with an annualized growth rate of 0.24%. Texas had the largest growth with an annualized gain of 5.64%.
Year over year, Rhode Island had the smallest growth with a 2.29% rise in GDP while Washington had the largest growth with a 7.79% rise in GDP.
West Virginia saw the largest decrease in its growth rate between its year-over-year growth and its annualized quarterly growth slowing its rate by 6.32 percentage points. Nebraska had the largest increase in its growth rate between its year-over-year growth and its annualized quarterly growth ramping up its rate by 1.44 percentage points.
Nebraska went from having the 43rd largest growth rate over the same quarter last year to the 4th largest growth rate over the previous quarter. Conversely, West Virginia went from having the 5th highest growth rate over the same quarter last year to the 50th highest growth rate over the previous quarter. Only three states had growth rates in the top five both over the same quarter last year and over the previous quarter: Texas (2nd highest growth year-over year, highest growth over the previous quarter), Arizona (3rd highest year-over-year, 3rd highest quarterly), and Washington (highest year-over-year, 5th highest quarterly).
Sources
US Bureau of Economic Analysis. 2019. "GDP by State." Accessed May 22, 2019. https://www.bea.gov/data/gdp/gdp-state.